E 


36I 


JC-NRLF 


DS7 

1896 

AMERICAN     TROOPS, 

DURING 

THE    LATE   WAR, 

UNDER  THE  COMMAND  OF 
COLONELS  FENTON  AND  CAMPBELL, 

Giving  an  account  of  the  crossing  of  the  Lake  from 
Erie  to  Long  Point  ;  also,  the  crossing  of  Niagara 
by  the  troops  under  Gen'ls  Games,  Brown,  Scott 
and  Porter.  The  taking  of  Fort  Erie,  the  battle  of 
Chippewa,  the  imprisonment  of  Col.  Bull,  Major 
Galloway,  and  the  author  (then  a  captain)  and  their 
treatment  ;  together  with  an  historical  account  of  the 
Canadas. 


BY    SAMUEL    WHITE, 

Of  Adams  County,  Penn. 


Q^aftitnore : 

PUBLISHED    BY   THE   AUTHOR. 

B.    EDES,    PRINTER. 
1830. 


HISTORY 

OF  THE 

AMERICAN     TROOPS, 

DURING 

THE    LATE   WAR, 

UNDER  THE  COMMAND  OF 

COLONELS  FENTON  AND  CAMPBELL, 

Giving  an  account  of  the  crossing  of  the  Lake  from 
Erie  to  Long  Point ;  also,  the  crossing  of  Niagara 
by  the  troops  tinder  Gen  Is  Games,  Brown,  Scott 
and  Porter.  The  taking  of  Fort  Erie,  the  battle  of 
Chippewa,  the  imprisonment  of  Col.  Bull,  Major 
Galloway,  and  the  author  (then  a  captain)  and  their 
treatment ;  together  with  an  historical  account  of  the 
Canadas. 


BY    SAMUEL    WHITE, 

Of  Adams  County,  Penn. 


QSaffimore : 

PUBLISHED    BY   THE   AUTHOR. 

B.    EDES,    PRINTER. 


Three  Hundred  Copies  Reprinted  for 

GEORGE  P.  HUMPHREY, 

Rochester,  N.  Y. 

1896 

No. 


CHARLES     MANN,    PRINTER, 
ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. 


PREFACE. 

In  presenting  the  following  pages  to  the  public, 
the  author  begs  leave  to  return  his  warmest  thanks 
to  those  of  his  fellow-citizens  who  have  so  liberally 
come  forward  to  aid  him  in  his  undertaking.  A 
plain  man  himself,  he  has  not  attempted  to  em 
bellish  his  narrative  with  high-flown  language,  nor 
to  impose  upon  the  credulous,  a  string  of  fictitious 
adventures,  but  has  been  content  with  offering  them  a 
plain  statement  of  facts,  and  as  such  he  hopes  it  will 
be  acceptable  to  the  American  reader. 

It  may  be  necessary  to  observe  that  in  speaking  of 
Englishmen,  as  the  author  has  been  forced  to  do, 
rather  harshly  in  many  places  throughout  this  volume, 
he  does  not  mean  to  insinuate  that  all  of  that  nation 
are  such  as  he  has  described  ;  he  has  had  the  pleas 
ure  of  knowing  many,  who  were  an  honor  to  their 
country,  and  to  whose  kindness  and  gentlemanly  con 
duct  he  feels  happy  in  having  an  opportunity  to  tes 
tify.  The  contrast,  also,  which  will  necessarily  be 
drawn  between  the  conduct  of  the  contending  parties, 
resulting  so  eminently  in  favor  of  our  own  country 
men,  will  not  be  without  its  effect;  as  it  will  prove 
to  those  who  at  some  future  day  may  step  forward  in 
defence  of  their  liberties,  how  much  more  of  real  and 
never  fading  glory  is  acquired,  by  the  exercise  of 
mercy  and  benevolence  to  the  fallen  foe,  than  even 


M187288 


by  the  greatest  valor  and  most  distinguished  general 
ship,  unaccompanied  by  these  attributes. 

In  the  compilation  of  the  work,  which  has  been 
done  chiefly  from  his  notes  taken  at  the  time,  he 
has  been  careful  to  avoid  errors ;  some,  nevertheless, 
owing  to  the  disadvantages  under  which  they  were 
taken,  may  have  occurred,  and  for  these,  should  it 
prove  to  be  so,  he  would  bespeak  indulgence. 


HISTORY 
OF   THE   LATE   WAR. 

To  repel  the  inroads  of  the  British  on  the  northern 
frontier,  during  the  year  1814,  the  governor  of  the 
state  of  Pennsylvania  ordered  out  the  militia  to  the 
number  of  one  thousand.  About  one  half  of  this  re 
quisition  was  composed  of  volunteers  from  Cumber 
land  county,  of  the  eleventh  division,  and  two  companies 
belonging  to  the  same  division  from  Franklin  county, 
and  the  residue  was  drawn  from  the  counties  of  Adams 
and  York.  The  detachment  of  the  troops  to  which  I 
belonged,  rendezvoused  at  Gettysburg,  on  the  28th  of 
February,  1814,  and  departed  from  that  place  on  their 
march  to  Erie,  on  the  tenth  day  of  March  following. 
On  the  morning  of  the  following  day,  major  Galloway 
and  myself  returned  to  Gettysburg  to  hold  a  court 
martial  for  the  trial  of  delinquents,  and  after  several 
days  of  arduous  exertion,  completed  our  business  by 
the  assessment  of  fines  to  the  amount  of  upwards  of 
forty-thousand  dollars.  Hence  I  returned  home,  news 
having  reached  me  that  my  wife  lay  dangerously  ill  of 
a  fever,  and  remained  there  for  a  short  time,  when  up 
on  her  being  pronounced  convalescent,  I  hastened  to 
join  my  companions  in  arms,  and  reached  Erie,  on  the 
evening  of  the  same  day  our  troops  arrived.  We  en 
camped  on  the  margin  of  the  lake,  near  the  fort  and 


6 

about  a  mile  above  the  town,  where  we  remained  with 
out  any  occurrence  of  note  taking  place  until  the  four 
teenth  of  May. 

About  this  time  it  was  made  known  in  camp  that  an 
expedition  to  Long  Point  was  projected,  and  that  volun 
teers  to  the  number  of  five  hundred  stepped  forward  to 
assist  the  regular  forces  amounting  to  about  four  hun 
dred  men.  The  expedition  was  commanded  by  Col. 
Campbell,  and  all  preparations  having  been  completed 
on  the  fifteenth,  we  commenced  crossing  the  lake,  and 
landed  on  the  Canada  shore,  late  on  the  evening  of 
the  sixteenth.  A  company  of  dragoons  fired  on  the 
boats  that  left  the  vessel,  previous  to  their  reaching  the 
shore,  when  they  put  spurs  to  their  horses  and  imme 
diately  rode  off.  We  halted  in  a  piece  of  woods  near 
the  lake,  exposed  to  the  rain  which  poured  upon  us  all 
that  night  and  next  day,  having  no  shelter  except  the 
boughs  of  the  trees,  under  which  we  rested. 

Early  next  morning,  we  crossed  Buffaloe  creek  in  a 
large  canoe,  which  we  were  fortunate  enough  to  find 
there;  our  troops  were  formed  in  single  file,  showing 
our  whole  force  in  front,  with  two  small  field  pieces  in 
the  centre  of  the  line,  drawn  by  sailors  and  marines. 
In  that  order  we  inarched  for  Dover,  a  very  politic  and 
ingenious  mode  of  forming,  and  one  well  calculated  to 
impress  an  enemy  unacquainted  with  the  number  of 
our  troops,  with  an  idea  of  our  having  a  very  large 
army  in  the  rear,  this  appearing  only  as  the  advance 
guard.  A  little  way  up  the  creek  was  situate  a  large 
store  house,  but  it  was  completely  emptied  before 
we  reached  it,  they  having  had  information  of  our 
approach,  some  days  before,  as  will  be  seen  hereaf 
ter.  We  continued  our  march  without  opposition, 
passing  over  a  beautiful  plain,  covered  with  luxuri 
ant  fields  of  wheat.  When  we  reached  Dover,  we 


found  it  deserted  by  all  but  a  few  women,  who  had 
white  clothes  hanging  upon  broomsticks  suing  for  peace. 
The  only  hostile  demonstration  on  our  part  was,  the 
destruction  of  some  mills  employed  in  manufacturing 
flour  for  the  army,  together  with  some  houses  occupi 
ed  as  stores,  and  those  belonging  to  some  officers,  who, 
it  had  been  ascertained,  had  been  on  the  expedition  of 
the  burning  of  Buffaloe  and  Black  Rock  some  time  pre 
vious.  Every  possible  respect  was  paid  to  the  wo 
men  and  children,  and  the  best  part  of  the  furniture 
in  the  houses  which  were  destroyed,  was  even  carried 
out  by  the  troops  previous  to  their  being  set  on  fire. 
From  what  information  we  could  derive  from  the  women, 
we  were  led  to  believe  that  they  had  plenty  of  time  to  have 
prepared  for  our  reception,  and  might  even,  had  they 
so  chosen,  prevented  our  landing,  as  they  had  news 
of  our  intended  expedition  ten  days  before.  It  appeared 
strange  how  such  news  should  have  reached  them,  as 
it  was  not  currently  known,  even  in  our  own  camp, 
three  days  before  we  embarked,  but  the  mystery  was 
soon  cleared  up,  when  after  we  had  been  made  prison 
ers,  Major  Galloway  and  I  recognized  in  Chippewa, 
in  company  with  the  British  officers,  a  gentleman 
whom  we  had  formerly  seen  at  Erie  in  company  with 
our  quartermaster;  he  must  have  been  a  spy.  We  took 
one  man  prisoner,  whom  we  carried  with  us  in  our  re 
treat.  I  sat  with  him  until  the  last  boat  was  ready  to 
push  off  to  the  vessel,  and  then  dismissed  him,  unhurt, 
and  went  on  board.  Strange  as  it  may  appear,  it  is  not 
the  less  true,  that  on  the  very  day  after  the  British  came 
to  Dover,  they  burnt  all  the  houses  we  had  left  standing, 
and  even  hung  the  poor  old  fellow  whom  we  had  had  in 
custody. 

On  our   return,    we   had   tempestuous    weather,    and 
were  detained  on  the  lake  three  days,  making  the  con- 


8 

tinuance  of  our^expedition  five  days  in  all.  Before  we 
had  embarked  on  the  expedition,  my  company  had 
drawn  rations  for  three  days,  every  pound  of  which 
had  been  left  on  the  shore  in  consequence  of  the  bad 
ness  of  its  quality,  so  that  the  poor  fellows  had  nothing 
but  bread  to  eat  for  that  time  ;  on  the  fourth  day  I  pre 
vailed  upon  the  master  of  the  vessel  to  let  me  have  a 
barrel  of  biscuit,  and  one  of  pork  for  my  company, 
which  having  been  hoisted  on  deck,  and  the  heads  tak 
en  out,  it  was  really  amusing  to  see  how  soon  they 
were  emptied.  In  the  evening  we  completed  our  land 
ing,  and  arrived  in  safety  at  our  camp  in  Erie. 

Next  day  we  learned  that  a  general  order  had  been 
given  for  our  march  to  Buffaloe,  and  that  preparations 
for  that  purpose  had  been  commenced  by  Col.  Fenton, 
when  they  were  checked  for  some  time  by  the  presen 
tation  of  a  mutinous  paper  by  some  of  the  men  select 
ed  for  that  purpose,  which  paper  had  been  signed  by 
half,  if  not  more,  of  the  privates  in  the  regiment.  This 
instrument  set  forth  that  they  had  determined  not  to 
march  from  camp,  until  they  had  received  the  amount 
of  pay  due  them  for  their  services,  alleging  as  their 
apology,  that  many  of  them  were  much  at  a  loss  for  shoes 
and  other  cloathing.  In  this  situation,  undecided  as  to 
what  course  we  should  pursue,  we  remained  for  seve 
ral  days,  until  at  length  some  of  the  captains  of  com 
panies,  attached  to  the  regiment,  conceiving  that  some 
thing  more  decisive  ought  to  be  attempted  to  compel 
the  mutinous  portion  of  the  regiment  to  return  to  their 
duty,  addressed  a  communication  to  the  Colonel,  set 
ting  forth  that  they  held  themselves  and  companies  in 
readiness  to  march  at  a  minute's  warning.  After  this 
a  new  impulse  was  given  to  preparations,  and  the  order 
of  march  was  fixed  for  the  day  following. 


But  the  spirit  of  mutiny  was  still  alive,  and  secret 
resolutions  were  formed  amongst  the  disaffected,  to 
obey  no  orders  until  the  terms  for  which  they  held  out 
were  complied  with,  and  on  the  following  day  when 
according  to  the  orders,  at  the  third  roll  of  the  drum  the 
tents  should  have  fallen,  a  number  remained  standing, 
and  those  who  were  willing  to  obey  orders,  had  to  be 
detached  for  the  purpose  of  pulling  them  down,  which 
however,  they  were  permitted  to  do,  unmolested. 

While  the  wagons  were  lading,  I  had  occasion  to 
proceed  to  the  centre  of  the  regiment,  having  some 
business  to  transact  with  one  of  the  field  officers,  and 
upon  my  return  was  waited  on  by  Lieutenant  Gardner, 
who  informed  me  that  during  my  absence  a  private 
from  Capt.  Roberts'  company,  had  been  amongst  my 
men  encouraging  them  to  stand  firm  to  their  agreement, 
and  oppose  the  march,  and  had  moreover  instructed 
them  that  the  others  had  agreed  to  commence  forming 
a  line,  which  he  urged  them  to  imitate.  This  man 
was  supposed  to  be  their  ringleader,  and  to  have  been 
appointed  their  commander.  As  the  first  step  towards 
the  suppression  of  this  mutiny,  I  determined  upon  his 
arrest,  hoping  that  prompt  and  decisive  conduct  in  this 
instance  would  not  be  without  its  effect,  in  deterring  the 
others  from  a  continuance  in  the  course  which  they 
adopted.  Accordingly  having  ascertained  from  the 
Lieutenant  that  he  could  recognise  him,  I  forthwith 
proceeded  to  the  place  where  Roberts'  company  were 
stationed,  and  upon  his  being  pointed  out,  immediately 
arrested  him,  and  sent  him  to  the  block  house,  used  as 
a  guard  house,  and  under  the  command  of  Major  Mar- 
lin,  a  regular  officer.  Returning  to  my  company  I 
found  that  several  of  my  men  had  already  fallen  into 
line,  and  that  others  were  quickly  following  their  ex 
ample.  To  my  demand  of  why  they  formed  or  by 


10 

whose  orders,  I  was  unable  to  obtain  an  answer,  and 
ordered  them  to  disperse  under  pain  of  immediate  ar 
rest,  and  await  the  regular  orders,  which  after  some 
little  hesitation,  I  succeeded  in  accomplishing. 

The  order  was  now  passed  to  form  line,  and  pre 
pare  to  march  ;  the  peaceable  portion  of  the  men  imme 
diately  fell  into  rank,  leaving  a  number  strolling  about, 
as  if  undecided  what  course  to  pursue.  While  in  the 
act  of  walking  round,  enquiring  from  each  individual 
his  reasons  for  not  obeying  orders,  and  just  as  I  had 
placed  under  arrest  a  couple  who  were  conspicuous  as 
spokesmen,  and  who  had  positively  and  most  imperti 
nently  refused  to  comply,  I  was  called  to  by  one  of  my 
men,  who  bid  me  take  care,  as  one  of  those  in  my  rear 
was  loading  his  gun  to  shoot  me.  I  instantly  wheeled 
round,  sprang  upon  him,  wrested  the  gun  from  him, 
and  despatched  him  also  to  the  guard  house.  The 
most  determined  being  now  removed,  and  the  others 
left  to  their  own  discretion,  aided  no  doubt,  in  the  de 
cision  by  Major  Marlin,  who,  having  loaded  the  gun 
in  the  block  house  with  grape  and  cannister,  commencd 
running  them  out  of  the  port  holes  directed  towards 
us  ;  the  line  was  promptly  formed,  the  order  of  march 
given,  and  the  regiment  moved  off  in  perfect  order. 
Another  circumstance  no  doubt,  contributed  largely  in 
restoring  order,  viz.:  when  Captain  Roberts  was  inform 
ed  that  I  had  placed  one  of  his  men  under  arrest,  he 
immediately  sent  to  Major  Marlin,  requesting  his  libe 
ration.  Major  M.  applied  to  me  to  know  the  nature 
of  the  offence,  for  which  the  prisoner  had  been  com 
mitted.  Upon  my  informing  him,  that  he  had  been 
sent  there  for  mutinous  conduct,  his  reply  was —  "  I  will 
not  release  him  even  at  the  command  of  your  Colonel, 
until  he  has  first  undergone  trial  for  his  offence." 


II 

This  answer  was  soon  rumored  about,  and  perceiving 
that  the  business  was  assuming  rather  too  serious  an 
appearance,  the  disaffected  were  somewhat  panic 
struck,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  it  af 
forded  another  and  a  strong  inducement,  for  their  re 
turn  to  duty. 

We  pursued  our  march  that  day  over  a  road  running 
parallel  with  the  lake,  and  in  some  places,  immediate 
ly  along  the  beach  for  a  considerable  distance,  and 
found  it  very  fatiguing,  owing  to  the  deepness  of  the 
sand.  The  country  along  the  lake  shore  was  gene 
rally  hilly,  and  seemed  to  be  well  supplied  with  game. 
We  crossed  two  or  three  streams  of  water  on  our  march, 
the  principal  of  which  was  Cattaraugus  creek,  which 
we  were  compelled  to  cross  in  a  boat.  On  the  oppo 
site  side  was  situated  a  small  village  with  two  or  three 
public  houses.  Here  the  soil  appeared  to  be  very  good, 
as  was  the  case  as  far  as  we  could  perceive,  when 
ever  the  road  diverged  from  the  margin  of  the  lake. 
Near  the  village  just  mentioned  was  an  Indian  settle 
ment,  composed  of  the  tribe  called  the  Cattaraugus  In 
dians.  After  our  encampment  for  the  night,  which  we 
did  upon  the  bank  of  the  creek,  we  were  visited  by  a 
number  of  them  and  their  squaws,  who  appeared  very 
much  pleased  to  see  us,  more  particularly  as  they  un 
derstood  we  were  going  to  fight  the  British.  There 
seemed  to  be  a  great  scarcity  of  men  in  that  portion  of 
New-York  state,  many,  I  presume,  had  been  killed  by  the 
enemy,  at  the  time  of  the  burning  of  Buffaloe  and 
Black  Rock,  as  they  had  been  called  out  en  masse,  pre 
vious  to  that  transaction. 

In  many  places  along  the  road,  the  houses  were  lit 
erally  crammed  with  ladies,  collected  there  to  see  us  as 
we  passed  through  the  county,  and  here  I  would 
strongly  recommend  all  who  may  be  in  want  of  hand- 


12 

some  wives  to  visit  the  borders  of  lake  Erie,  for  I  have 
never  seen,  before  or  since,  in  any  part  of  the  county, 
more  beautiful  and  elegant  looking  ladies. 

We  at  length  reached  Buffaloe  without  any  disaster, 
except  the  loss  of  a  few  men  by  desertion,  if  indeed 
such  an  occurrence  may  justly  be  so  termed,  and  found 
there  quite  a  respectable  body  of  regulars,  consisting 
of  two  brigades.  We  encamped  and  remained  there 
drilling  our  troops  until  the  second  of  July,  when  gen 
eral  orders  were  issued  for  embarkation  at  day 
light  of  the  following  morning.  So  unexpected  was 
this  order,  and  so  completely  had  Gen.  Brown  conceal 
ed  his  intentions,  that  his  officers,  not  at  all  suspecting 
the  meditated  movement,  had  actually  made  prepara 
tions  for  the  celebration  in  camp  of  the  Fourth  of  July, 
and  had  engaged  his  company  at  dinner.  The  imme 
diate  consequences,  as  will  be  seen,  of  such  good  poli 
cy  on  the  part  of  the  General,  was  the  capture  by  sur 
prise  of  Fort  Erie  on  the  third,  without  bloodshed.  To 
return  to  our  narrative ;  the  army  consisting  of  two 
brigades,  were  landed  on  the  opposite  shore  without 
the  least  opposition.  The  first  brigade  under  the  com 
mand  of  Gen.  Scott,  and  the  artillery  corps  command 
ed  by  Major  Hurdman,  landed  nearly  a  mile  below 
whilst  Gen.  Ripley  with  the  second  brigade  made  the 
shore  about  the  same  distance  above.  Thus  the  fort 
was  soon  completely  invested.  A  battery  of  long 
eighteens  was  immediately  planted  in  a  position  which 
commanded  it,  and  a  flag  dispatched,  demanding  a  sur 
render,  and  granting  two  hours  for  that  purpose,  at  the 
expiration  of  which  time,  the  garrison  consisting  of  137 
men,  including  officers,  marched  out  and  surrendered 
themselves  prisoners  of  war.  Several  pieces  of  ord 
nance  and  some  military  stores  were  found  in  the  fort. 


13 

Having  reduced  Fort  Erie,  the  General  immediate 
ly  proclaimed  martial  law.  His  proclamation  set  forth, 
that  persons  demeaning  themselves  peaceably,  and  at 
tending  to  their  private  business  should  meet  with  no 
interruption,  whilst  those  found  in  arms  should  be  treat 
ed  as  enemies.  Private  property,  he  pledged  himself, 
should  be  held  inviolate,  but  public  property  should  be 
seized  wherever  found,  and  sold  by  the  commanding 
General.  Plundering  was  strictly  prohibited — from 
the  regular  army  the  Major  General  had  no  fears,  and 
those  honorable  men  who  had  pressed  forward  to  the 
standard  of  their  country,  to  avenge  her  wrongs  and  gain 
a  name  in  arms,  would  scorn  to  be  guilty  of  any  act, 
which  might,  in  even  so  remote  a  manner  reflect  dis 
grace  upon  their  national  character. 

The  necessary  arrangements  for  the  preservation 
and  garrisoning  the  Fort  Erie,  being  concluded,  Gen. 
Brown  determined  to  march  forward  on  the  following 
day,  and  attack  the  enemy  who  lay  entrenched  in  his 
works  upon  the  plains  of  Chippewa.  To  this  resolution, 
considered  of  a  desperate  and  dangerous  character, 
the  General  was  doubtless  urged  by  the  necessity  which 
he  felt  existed,  to  redeem  the  reputation  which  had 
been  lost  by  the  events  of  former  campaigns — clangers 
and  remonstrances  were  therefore  entirely  disregarded. 
The  ardor  and  desire  for  battle  was  even  increased 
by  the  knowledge  that  the  glory  of  the  victory  would 
be  so  much  the  more  brilliant,  besides  having  formed 
his  resolutions  and  plans,  he  was  determined  upon  at 
tempting  their  execution. 

Before  day-break  on  the  morning  of  the  fifth,  it  was 
ascertained,  that  the  Colonel  to  whom  orders  had  been 
sent  by  Gen.  Porter  to  supply  the  troops  with  three 
days'  provisions,  had  neglected  that  necessary  precau 
tion  ;  the  consequence  was,  that  a  boat  had  to  be  des- 


14 

patched  to  Buffaloe  with  an  order  for  provisions,  which 
however,  did  not  reach  us  until  about  two  o'clock  in  the 
day,  when  we  were  supplied  with  a  couple  of  biscuits 
each,  being  the  first  which  a  majority  of  us  had  eaten  that 
day.  At  four  o'clock  we  came  in  view  of  the  encamp 
ment  of  our  regular  troops,  and  halted.  We  had  not 
been  many  minutes  at  rest  before  a  requisition  was 
made  for  volunteers  to  turn  out  and  drive  off  the  hostile 
Indians  who  had  been  firing  on  our  pickets.  Fatigued 
as  we  were,  having  traveled  that  day  about  eighteen 
miles  without  rations,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that 
not  much  alacrity  was  showed  by  the  men  to  become 
of  the  party.  Lieut.  Gilleland,  Ensign  Graff,  the  sur 
geon  of  the  volunteers,  and  myself,  laid  aside  our 
swords,  and  borrowing  rifles,  volunteered  as  privates  ; 
about  three  hundred  of  the  volunteers  of  our  own 
regiment  also  came  forward,  and  these  were  strength 
ened  by  several  hundred  Indians,  the  whole  under 
the  command  of  Gen.  Porter,  Col.  Bull  and  Major 
Galloway.  I  had  eaten  nothing  except  one  biscuit 
from  the  time  I  had  my  dinner  the  day  before  at  Buffa 
loe,  and  had  even  given  away  the  balance  of  my  store, 
expecting  to  get  a  good  supper  that  evening;  but  I  was 
doomed  to  be  mistaken. 

Orders  were  issued  that  every  white  man  who  went 
out  under  Gen.  Porter  should  leave  his  hat,  and  go  un 
covered.  The  Indians  tied  up  their  heads  with  pieces  of 
white  muslin,  and  it  was  realty  diverting  to  see  them 
making  their  preparations  for  battle,  After  having  tied 
up  their  heads,  which  process  must  have  consumed  at 
least  fifty  yards  of  fine  muslin,  they  painted  their  faces, 
making  red  streaks  above  their  eyes  and  foreheads — 
they  then  went  to  old  logs  and  burnt  stumps,  and  spit 
ting  upon  their  hands  rubbed  them  upon  the  burnt  part, 
until  they  were  perfectly  black,  when  they  drew  their 


fingers  down  their  cheeks  leaving  large  black  streaks- 
after  this  preparation  they  were  ready  for  action  or 
march.  We  proceeded  in  single  file  through  a  lane 
to  our  left,  and  in  the  course  of  half  an  hour  came  in 
contact  with  the  enemy,  who  were  posted  in  the  woods 
on  our  right,  and  completely  concealed  from  our  obser 
vation.  Immediately  upon  our  entering  a  long  narrow 
path,  they  opened  upon  us  with  a  pretty  brisk  fire — 
we  faced  to  the  right  and  pressing  forward  put  them  to 
rout.  They  continued  their  flight  and  we  pursued 
them,  keeping  up  a  smart  fire,  which,  from  the  man 
ner  of  the  position,  did  considerable  damage,  un 
til  they  drew  us  into  rather  a  perilous  situation.  The 
whole  British  army  had  crossed  the  bridge  at  Chippe- 
wa,  and  drawn  up  their  forces  under  cover  of  a  piece 
of  woods,  near  the  Niagara  river,  and  running  parallel 
with  the  Chippewa  creek,  directly  across  the  creek, 
where  the  British  batteries  commanded  the  same  po 
sition.  Driving  the  Indians  rapidly  through  the  woods, 
we  at  length  came  in  full  contact  with  the  British  reg 
ular  line,  which  in  conjunction  with  the  batteries, 
opened  a  most  tremendous  fire.  From  the  clouds  of 
dust  and  heavy  firing,  General  Brown  concluded 
that  the  entire  force  of  the  British  was  in  motion,  and 
gave  orders  to  General  Scott  to  advance  with  his 
brigade  and  Towson's  artillery,  and  meet  the  enemy  on 
the  plain  in  front  of  the  American  camp.  In  a  few 
minutes  Scott  was  in  close  action  with  a  far  superior 
force  of  regulars.  Major  Jessup  commanding  the  bat- 
tallion  on  the  left  flank,  finding  himself  pressed  both  in 
front  and  rear,  and  his  men  falling  fast,  ordered  his  bat- 
tallion  to  support  arms  and  advance,  which  bold  order 
in  the  midst  of  the  enemy's  hottest  fire,  was  obeyed 
with  a  promptness  which  did  them  honour.  Having 
advanced  within  twenty  paces  of  the  enemy's  line, 


i6 

they  were  ordered  to  level  and  fire,  causing  such 
havoc  in  the  enemy's  line  as  forced  them  to  re 
treat.  About  this  time,  also  one  of  our  hot  shot  fell 
into  the  enemy's  magazine  and  blew  it  up — this  occur 
rence  silenced  their  artillery — the  whole  British  force 
fell  back,  and  being  closely  pressed  by  the  Ameri 
can  troops,  retreated  in  confusion  to  their  entrench 
ment,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant.  Gen.  Brown 
immediately  ordered  the  ordinance  to  be  brought  up  with 
the  intention  of  forcing  the  works,  but  upon  more  ma 
ture  reflection,  and  by  the  advice  of  his  officers,  he 
was  induced  to  order  the  forces  back  to  camp.  In  this 
engagement,  which  resulted  so  disastrously  to  the  Brit 
ish,  a  considerable  portion  of  the  army,  though  burn 
ing  for  the  conflict,  had  not  an  opportunity  of  coming 
into  action.  The  conquerors  of  the  veterans  of  France, 
were,  in  fact,  defeated  by  a  detachment  from  the 
American  army.  The  only  troops  engaged  on  the 
part  of  Gen.  Brown,  were  Scott's  brigade,  and  the  Penn 
sylvania  volunteers,  commanded  by  Porter — the  con 
duct  of  these  men  was  heroic  in  the  extreme ;  wherever 
they  directed  their  fire,  or  pointed  their  bayonets,  the 
boasted  "  conquerors  of  the  peninsula"  fell  or  fled  ;  the 
volunteers,  in  particular  manifested  all  the  coolness 
and  bravery  of  regular  troops.  Such  was  the  punish 
ment  they  received  in  this  engagement,  that,  although 
battle  was  offered  them  again  on  their  own  terms,  they 
shrunk  from  its  acceptance. 

The  loss  of  the  enemy  was  nearly  six  hundred  kill 
ed,  as  was  ascertained  some  time  afterwards,  although 
they  were  never  willing  to  acknowledge  it  so  great; 
they  removed,  however,  off  the  field,  nearly  five  hun 
dred  wounded  men  before  their  retreat,  and  the  loss  in 
the  woods  of  the  Canadian  militia,  by  our  scouting 
party,  was  upwards  of  eighty  killed.  It  was  not  known 


17 

how  many  Indians  fell,  but  their  loss  must  have  been 
very  great.  When  our  scouting  party  returned,  there 
were  but  twenty  men  missing,  five  of  that  number 
were  prisoners,  four  whites  and  one  Indian. 

I  was  nearly  on  the  extreme  right  of  our  line,  which 
was  very  much  extended  in  our  progress  through  the 
woods,  in  consequence  of  broken  trees,  thickets,  &c., 
and  did  not  immediately  hear  the  order  for  retreat, 
consequently,  was  slow  in  following  the  example  of 
several  of  those  in  my  rear,  whom  I  perceived  retreat 
ing;  and  it  was  not  until  my  left  had  been  entirety  de 
serted,  and  those  on  my  right  were  rapidly  falling  away, 
that  I  made  my  way  with  some  others  to  a  field  which 
lay  on  our  right.  On  coming  to  the  fence,  we  per 
ceived  the  British  light  horse  advancing  along  the  op 
posite  side  of  the  field  in  full  speed;  we  immediately 
perceived  that  our  chance  of  escape  in  that  direction 
was  small,  as  we  would  be  taken  long  before  we  should 
have  crossed.  We  then  shifted  our  course,  keeping 
under  cover  of  the  wood,  until  we  had  reached  the 
end  of  the  field,  where  we  fell  in  with  Col.  Bull  and 
Major  Galloway,  who  had  been  more  on  the  left.  We 
were  now  on  the  very  ground,  over  which,  a  short 
time  before,  we  had  driven  the  Canadians  and  Indians, 
and  concluded  ourselves  in  perfect  safety  ;  but  we  had 
not  proceeded  more  than  a  few  rods,  when  we  sudden 
ly  found  ourselves  surrounded  by  Indians  who  had 
been  lying  in  ambush — unable  to  surround  us  all,  they 
had  permitted  a  number  of  friendly  Indians,  and  seve 
ral  of  our  volunteers  to  pass  by  unmolested,  that  they 
might  the  better  secure  us.  After  having  disposed  of  us. 
a  small  party  of  them  pursued  those  whom  they  had  suf 
fered  to  pass,  several  of  whom,  however,  made  good 
their  retreat. 


IS 

Having  disarmed  us,  the  first  enquiry  was  for  money. 
A  large  Indian  came  up  to  me,  calling  out  "  money, 
money." — I  insisted  that  I  had  none.  He  then  seized 
my  coat,  which  he  took  off  me,  another  claimed  my 
vest,  another  my  neck-cloth,  and  so  on,  until  they  had 
stripped  me  of  every  article  of  cloathing,  except  my 
shirt  and  pantaloons.  It  was  fortunate  for  me  my 
shirt  was  not  ruffled,  or  they  would  have  taken  even 
that;  they  took  from  me  a  ruffled  sham,  which  I  wore 
over  my  shirt ;  a  fellow  had  placed  his  hand  upon  my 
watch  chain,  with  a  view  of  drawing  it  from  my  pock 
et,  but  meeting  with  some  little  difficulty  in  conse 
quence  of  my  pocket  being  damp  from  perspiration,  he 
deliberately  drew  his  knife,  when  not  wishing  to  give 
the  gentleman  the  trouble  of  operating,  I  drew  it  out 
and  handed  it  to  him. 

At  the  time  these  savages  were  stripping  me,  others 
were  as  busily  engaged  in  dealing  out  in  like  manner  to 
Col.  Bull  and  Major  Galloway — they  took  the  Major's 
boots,  compelling  him  to  walk  bare-footed.  We  pro 
ceeded  on  our  march,  well  guarded,  and  had  not  gone 
more  than  about  half  a  mile,  when  an  Indian  in  the 
rear  suddenly  whooped  loudly,  raised  his  rifle,  and  shot 
Col.  Bull  through  the  body;  the  ball  entered  at  the  left 
shoulder,  and  passed  out  through  the  right  breast. 
After  he  had  been  shot,  he  raised  himself  upon  his  el 
bow,  and  reached  out  his  hand  to  Major  Galloway 
asking  him  for  assistance.  At  this  moment  the  fellow 
who  had  fired  came  up,  sunk  his  tomahawk  in  his 
head,  scalped  him,  and  left  his  body  where  he  fell  ; 
thus  perished  as  gallant,  and  noble  hearted  a  fellow,  as 
ever  drew  the  sword  in  defence  of  his  country.  I  was 
then  unable  to  account  for  an  act  so  contrary  to  all 
laws  of  warfare,  and  expected  every  moment  that  we 
should  have  shared  the  fate  of  our  unfortunate  friend. 


19 

I  was  afterwards  informed  by  a  Canadian  gentleman, 
with  whom  I  had  formed  an  acquaintance  while  at 
Ives'  Creek,  that  the  murder  was  committed  in  com 
pliance  with  the  order  of  Gen.  Rial,  who  had  given 
the  Indians  positive  instructions  not  to  spare  any  who 
wore  the  uniform  of  militia  officers,  he  at  the  same 
time  gave  them  a  minute  description  of  the  dress  of  the 
militia  and  regular  officers,  the  latter  of  whom,  should 
any  be  captured,  they  were  ordered  to  bring  into  camp 
in  safety.  Now  if  Gen.  Rial  gave  such  orders,  and 
that  he  did,  I  have  good  reason  to  believe,  how  very 
degrading  to  a  civilized  people  is  such  conduct,  how 
barbarous,  worse,  infinitely  worse  than  the  cruelty  of 
the  untutored  savage  ?  Startled  by  the  whoop,  I  had 
just  looked  over  my  shoulder,  and  was  struck  motion 
less,  petrified,  by  the  sight  ;  but  my  conductors  did  not 
allow  me  much  time  for  contemplation,  but  hurried  me 
forward  at  even  a  more  rapid  rate. 

That  we  were  not  murdered  as  we  expected,  was 
owing  to  our  being  dressed  in  the  uniform  of  the  regu 
lar  troops,  with  which  we  had  provided  ourselves  be 
fore  our  departure  from  Gettysburg — the  unfortunate 
Colonel  was  dressed  in  the  old  uniform  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  militia,  and  met  his  disastrous  fate  in  conse 
quence  of  a  trifling  inattention — so  frail  and  slender 
are  the  threads  upon  which  human  life  and  human 
prosperity  are  dependent.  Col.  Bull  was  a  man  of  so 
ber  and  exemplary  habits,  and  highly  esteemed  by 
the  soldiery — he  was  a  pious  man,  and  his  mind  had  a 
strong  religious  cast.  Whilst  at  Erie,  the  most  part  of 
his  Sabbaths  were  spent  in  the  hospitals,  in  reading> 
conversing  upon,  and  explaining  the  scriptures  to  the 
sick  and  disabled — but  to  return  to  our  narrative,  the 
savages  who  conducted  me,  were  now  hurrying  me  for 
ward  at  a  trot.  Several  times  during  our  flight 


20 

Major  Galloway  asked  them  whether  they  intended  to 
kill  him  and  Captain  White,  their  answer  was,  they 
would  not,  but  it  will  readily  be  believed,  that  after 
the  dreadful  sight  we  had  just  witnessed,  we  did  not 
place  much  confidence  in  their  assertions.  Having 
cleared  the  woods,  we  now  reached  a  green  field,  in 
running  through  which,  the  Indian  who  held  me  by 
the  arm,  and  I,  both  trying  for  the  furrow,,  jostled 
each  other,  and  he  fell,  but  still  holding  his  grip,  was 
instantly  on  his  feet  again.  At  that  moment  the  hope 
of  liberty  flashed  strongly  over  my  mind,  and  had  he 
been  the  only  Indian  with  me,  I  would  most  certainly 
have  dispatched  him,  or  at  least  made  the  attempt; 
but  a  moment's  reflection  served  to  convince  me  that 
any  effort  of  that  kind  would  be  attended  only  with  in 
stant  death,  and  under  these  considerations  of  the 
case,  I  concluded  that  my  safest  plan  was  to  desist 
from  so  hazardous  an  exploit.  Coining  out  of  the 
grain  field,  near  Chippewa  Creek,  we  were  in  sight  of 
the  bridge,  over  which  the  last  of  the  British  army 
then  in  view,  had  just  crossed,  the  American  cannon 
were  playing  briskly  on  the  rear;  the  Indians  who  led 
me,  for  we  had  entirely  outrun  those  who  conducted 
Galloway,  became  alarmed,  dreading  that  the  whole 
army  would  have  passed,  and  the  bridge  be  destroy 
ed,  before  they  should  be  able  to  reach  it,  and  ac 
cordingly  turned  and  ran  up  the  creek  for  some  dis 
tance,  the  Indians  who  left  Galloway,  now  halloed  to 
them,  when  they  wheeled,  and  came  in  view  of  the  rear 
guard  of  the  British  army,  at  the  moment  they  were  on 
the  point  of  crossing  the  bridge.  I  was  dreadfully  fa 
tigued,  and  to  hurry  me  on,  a  fellow  was  placed 
behind  me,  who  every  minute  or  so,  fixed  his  hands 
upon  my  shoulders,  pushing  me  forward  with  a  violence 
that  well  nigh  threw  me  on  my  face.  Faint  and  ex- 


21 

hausted,  I  still  hurried  forward,  exerting  all  my  nerve, 
fearing  that  if  I  failed  or  fell,  the  tomahawk,  the  sound 
of  which  still  ran  in  my  ears,  would  soon  give  me  my 
quietus ;  I  had  hopes  too,  that  the  moment  of  my  de 
liverance  from  these  wretches  was  not  far  distant,  as 
I  fully  expected  to  be  taken  ont  of  their  hands  as  soon 
as  we  should  have  reached  the  British  army.  In  this 
manner  we  gained  the  bridge  just  as  the  last  of  the 
rear  guard  had  got  on  it,  the  American  round  shot  still 
rolling  after  us;  one  of  them  fell  within  a  yard  of  me 
as  I  pressed  forward,  making  the  clay  fly  all  over  us, 
and  then  bounded  into  the  creek  ;  having  completed 
our  crossing,  the  bridge  was  cut  down. 

What  was  my  astonishment  and  indignation,  when 
having  come  in  company  with  those  from  whom  I  ex 
pected  relief  to  find  them  even  worse  than  the  savages, 
and  that  instead  of  respiting  us,  they  encouraged  them 
to  run  us  still  further,  crying  out  who  have  you  got 
there,  a  damned  Yankee? — Yes — well  damn  him,  run 
him  well,  he's  not  half  run  yet ;  although  I  then  thought 
it  impossible  for  me  to  proceed  twenty  rods  further 
without  dropping  down  dead.  Thus  situated,  my 
mouth  stretched  wide  open  panting  for  breath,  I  was 
compelled  to  run  between  one  and  two  miles  further, 
to  the  Indian  encampment,  still  shoved  forward  as  be 
fore,  whenever  I  slackened  my  pace  ;  my  persecutors 
encouraged  and  cheered  on  by  the  brutal  and  unfeel 
ing  soldiery,  who  seemed  to  look  upon  the  affair  as 
mere  amusement. 

We  were  sent  to  the  rear  of  the  camp,  and  here,  for 
the  first  time,  I  was  permitted  to  sit  down  ;  in  fact  I  was 
so  weakened  by  previous  fatigue,  as  to  be  unable  to 
stand  without  support.  Having  recruited  as  much 
breath  as  enabled  me  to  speak,  I  asked  for  a  drink  of 
water;  they  not  understanding  the  language,  I  made  a 


22 

sign  for  what  I  wanted,  when  I  was  led  between  two  to 
a  pond,  where  I  was  permitted  to  drink — those  only  who 
have  felt  the  same  pressing  necessity,  can  form  any  idea 
of  the  luxury  of  that  draught.  They  then  led  me  back, 
and  I  again  resumed  my  seat  on  the  ground.  A  few 
minutes  afterwards  I  was  surrounded  by  thirty  or  forty 
of  these  savages,  all  armed,  they  brought  down  their 
guns  at  an  order  and  commenced  to  talk — here  I  sat  for 
some  time  perfectly  silent,  but  at  length  looking  up  at 
the  fellow  who  had  had  me  in  custody,  I  asked  him  if 
they  were  going  to  kill  me?  He  snatched  up  his  rifle 
and  raising  it  in  both  hands  brought  it  down  with  vio 
lence — he  checked  the  fall,  however,  before  it  reached 
my  head,  and  set  it  down  as  before,  and  casting  at  me 
a  scowl  of  rage  and  hatred,  resumed  his  place  in  the 
circle,  from  which  the  momentary  act  alluded  to  had 
moved  him.  It  may  be  well  presumed  that  I  had  no 
very  great  anxiety  to  ask  more  questions. 

Two  or  three  Canadian  officers  now  came  up,  one 
of  whom  appeared  perfectly  versed  in  the  language  ;  af 
ter  some  conversation  between  him  and  the  Indians, 
they  opened  the  ring  and  admitted  him  to  me  ;  he  asked 
a  number  of  questions,  where  I  was  from  ?  whether  I 
was  an  officer  or  private?  and  whether  I  knew  if  there 
were  any  other  officers  made  prisoners,  and  if  so  wheth 
er  I  would  not  like  to  be  with  them?  I  informed  him 
that  Major  Galloway  was  a  prisoner,  in  the  British 
camp,  and  that  I  should  be  much  pleased  to  have  his 
company — he  commenced  another  talk  with  the  Indians, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  they  began  to  disperse  ;  after  the 
crowd  had  pretty  well  cleared  away,  two  of  them  came 
to  me  and  taking  me  by  the  arms,  one  at  each  side, 
walked  me  back  to  the  British  camp,  where  we  found 
Major  Galloway  still  sitting  on  the  ground,  with  his  In 
dian  guard  beside  him.  We  proceeded  together  and 


23 

were  in  a  few  minutes  brought  into  the  presence  of 
General  Rial,  who  immediately  commenced  interro 
gating  us,  asking  a  number  of  questions,  the  truth  of 
which  I  was  determined  he  should  not  know  from  me. 
One  of  his  questions  as  to  what  number  of  troops  we 
had,  was  addressed  to  Major  Galloway,  who  seeming 
to  hesitate,  I  answered  for  him,  saying  that  we  had 
something  like  five  thousand  ;  he  replied  that  is  not  true 
sir,  you  know  it  is  not,  you  have  more  than  double  that 
number.  Had  I  then  been  acquainted  with  my  privi 
leges  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  I  should  not  have  made  him 
an  answer,  as  it  was  I  excused  myself,  by  telling  him 
that  I  had  computed  them  at  that  number  from  having 
seen  them  on  parade,  and  had  never  heard  from  any 
official  source,  what  was  the  actual  number  of  men  in 
service.  He  then  enquired  our  grade,  and  whether 
we  were  in  the  regular  service,  or  in  the  militia,  upon 
our  replying  that  we  belonged  to  the  Pennsylvania 
volunteers — he  exclaimed  what  business  had  you  to 
cross  the  frontier?  We  crossed,  sir,  in  obedience  to 
orders.  Who  could  give  such  orders,  sir,  I  thought  no 
militiaman  or  volunteer  could  be  ordered  out  of  the 
United  States?  They  can,  sir,  in  case  of  insurrec 
tion  or  invasion.  Well,  sir,  have  you  an  insurrection 
among  you  ?  No,  thank  heaven,  and  I  hope  we  never 
shall,  but,  sir,  we  have  invasion.  How  is  that,  sir  ?  where  ? 
I  replied,  have  you  not  Fort  Niagara  in  your  posses 
sion  ?  Then,  sir,  said  he,  why  did  you  not  go  there? 
I  answered,  we  were  not  ordered  there.  When  I  com 
plained  that  we  had  been  badly  treated,  having  had 
our  clothes  stripped  off  us,  that  we  had  been  robbed 
of  money  to  the  amount  of  about  one  thousand  dollars 
and  that  all  we  requested  was  to  have  our  clothes  re 
turned  as  we  were  not  accustomed  to  going  naked,  he 
give  us  to  understand  that  all  the  Indians  got  was  legi- 


24 

timate  spoil  and  could  not  be  returned — he  then  called 
two  sergeants,  and  gave  one  of  them  orders  to  take  that 
fellow,  meaning  me,  and  keep  him  safe  'till  to-morrow 
morning,  when  I  shall  demand  him  at  your  hand — to 
the  other  he  gave  similar  directions  concerning  Gallo 
way,  and  turning  upon  his  heel  with  a  smile,  joined 
his  officers  who  were  seated  outside  of  the  door  on 
benches  round  a  table  covered  with  glasses.  I  forgot 
to  state,  that  when  I  had  informed  him  of  the  murder 
of  Col.  Bull,  and  that  he  had  been  scalped  by  the  In 
dians,  his  reply  was — I  do  not  believe  he  has  been  scalp 
ed,  assigning  at  the  same  time  as  his  reason  for  not  so 
believing,  that  at  that  time  they  gave  nothing  for  scalps. 
We  were  now  carried  off  by  the  sergeants  and  sepa 
rated — we  were  compelled  to  be  behind  the  breast 
works,  on  the  bare  ground,  without  tent  or  covering  of 
any  kind.  I  suffered  severely  from  the  cold,  in  conse 
quence  of  having  been  overheated  during  the  day,  and 
then  stripped  of  my  cloathing.  In  the  night  I  took  a 
chill,  and  shook  as  if  I  had  had  the  ague  ;  I  am  confi 
dent  I  should  have  perished  but  for  the  humanity  of 
the  sergeant,  who  had  charge  of  me,  in  lending  me  his 
old  watch  coat,  and  a  handkerchief  to  tie  round  my 
head;  he  also  gave  me  a  dram  from  his  canteen — he, 
poor  fellow,  had  been  a  prisoner  amongst  the  Ameri 
cans,  and  candidly  acknowledged,  that  he  had  been 
well  treated.  In  the  morning  he  applied  for  rations 
for  Galloway  and  myself,  and  returned  without  having 
been  able  to  obtain  any— this  was  continued  for  three 
days  in  succession,  during  which  time  we  sustained 
life  merely  through  the  chanty  of  our  friendly  guard. 
On  the  first  morning  after  the  battle,  having  heard 
that  a  flag  of  truce  was  about  to  be  sent  to  the  Ameri 
can  camp,  asking  the  privilege  of  burying  their  dead, 
I  enquired  whether  a  letter  would  be  carried  for  me, 


25 

and  was  told  it  would,  but  that  it  must  be  sent  open. 
Being  kindly  furnished  by  the  sergeant  with  pen 
and  paper,  I  wrote  a  note  merely  stating  that  we 
were  prisoners,  requesting  that  our  clothes,  and  if 
possible,  a  little  money  might  be  sent  to  us,  as  we  were 
suffering  severely  from  want  of  them.  Fearful  that 
the  letter  might  not  be  sent,  if  it  contained  any  thing 
offensive,  I  forebore  to  mention  either  the  death  of  Col. 
Bull,  or  our  own  treatment.  On  the  return  of  the 
flag,  I  enquired  if  my  letter  had  been  delivered  and 
what  answer;  the  letter  had  been  delivered  but  they 
had  no  answer  whatever.  I  was  also  informed,  that 
to  their  request  to  be  allowed  to  bury  the  dead,  Gen. 
Brown  replied  that  he  was  able  to  bury  all  the  men  he 
could  kill. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  I  saw  one  of  the 
British  light  horse  coming  down  the  Chippewa  at  full 
speed ;  he  kept  his  horse  under  whip  and  spur,  until 
he  arrived  at  the  officers'  quarters,  and  in  a  few  mi 
nutes  the  camp  was  all  bustle.  The  artillery  horses 
were  speedily  driven  under  the  whip  up  the  Chip 
pewa  at  a  round  pace  ;  the  baggage  wagons  were  load 
ing  in  all  quarters,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  artillery 
opened  a  brisk  fire  ;  they  had  not  fired  many  rounds  be 
fore  I  heard  our  long  eighteens  speaking  in  return. 
I  felt  rejoiced  at  the  sound,  believing  that  they  must  be 
beaten  should  a  general  engagement  ensue,  and  that 
in  the  interim  I  might  have  a  fair  chance  of  escape. 
However  during  the  cannonade  the  British  army  was 
formed  in  line  and  led  into  the  field,  Major  Galloway, 
two  of  our  volunteers,  one  Indian,  myself  and  three  or 
lour  Canadians  who  were  in  confinement,  on  suspicion 
of  being  friendly  to  the  American  cause,  were  led  in 
to  the  field  under  a  strong  guard  and  halted  to  await 
the  fate  of  the  day.  The  British  artillery  was  soon  si» 


26 

lenced,  the  captain  as  I  afterwards  understood  had 
been  killed,  several  others  severely  wounded,  and  one 
of  their  cannon  dismounted,  by  having  the  carnage 
wheels  blown  away.  They  now  retired  nearly  as  fast 
as  they  advanced,  and  by  this  time  the  baggage  wagons 
being  loaded,  were  moved  forward  on  the  road  to  Fort 
George,  and  orders  being  giving  to  retreat,  they  set  off 
at  full  trot,  and  some  in  a  gallop,  not  delaying  to  pick 
up  the  camp  kettles,  which  were  dropping  along  the 
road,  one  here,  one  there,  shaken  from  the  wagons  by 
the  unusually  rapid  motion  ;  the  army  moved  off  at  quick 
step,  and  we  were  marched  in  the  rear,  still  surround 
ed  by  our  guard.  In  this  manner  we  proceeded  until 
we  came  to  Lundy's  Lane,  where  they  were  met  by  a 
reinforcement  from  Queenstown  heighths  ;  they  called 
a  halt  for  a  few  minutes,  during  which  the  officers  held 
a  council,  at  the  close  of  which  the  reinforcement  was 
wheeled  round  and  the  retreat  continued.  When  we 
reached  Queenstown  heighths  we  were  halted  before 
a  house,  at  which  were  a  number  of  British  officers ; 
I  was  then  brought  in  front,  and  viewed  by  some  of 
them,  who  not  being  able  to  discover  in  me  an  old  ac 
quaintance,  I  was  remanded  to  my  former  station.  This 
examination  was  owing  to  information  having  been 
lodged  by  a  fellow  who  had  seen  me  the  day  after  I  had 
been  made  prisoner,  that  I  had  belonged  to  a  certain 
British  regiment,  the  name  of  which  I  do  not  remem 
ber;  that  I  had  deserted  and  gone  over  to  the  United 
States,  and  had  received  my  commission  as  a  reward ; 
he  had  sworn  most  blasphemously  to  the  truth  of  his 

assertions,  and  concluded  with  "d n  you,  I  will  have 

you  hung";  I,  however,  heard  no  more  of  the  business; 
we  were  then  marched  forward  on  the  road  to  Fort 
George,  and  after  some  time  diverged  to  the  right  and 
proceeded  nearly  two  miles  to  a  large  brick  house, 


27 

where  we  were  confined  up  stairs,  having  one  guard 
at  the  room  door,  one  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  and  one 
at  the  outer  door  ;  part  of  the  army  also  had  encamped 
round  the  house,  around  them  was  stationed  a  camp 
guard,  and  outside  of  all  was  stationed  a  picket  guard, 
all  to  take  care  of  four  American  prisoners,  and  one 
Indian.  The  rest  of  the  troops  continued  their  march 
to  Fort  George.  Had  any  of  us  made  our  escape  at 
that  time,  it  would  have  been  highly  injurious  to  them, 
as  their  forces  were  much  weakened  by  previous  loss 
es.  I  know  that  they  had  two  vessels  so  completely 
crammed  with  wounded  men,  that  the  other  prisoners 
and  myself  were  obliged  to  remain  on  deck  the  whole 
time  of  the  passage  from  Fort  George  to  York,  where 
we  were  landed. 

The  wounded  officers  were  carried  to  town  in  blan 
kets  by  four  men  one  at  each  corner. 

And  here  I  should  be  committing  an  act  of  ingratitude, 
did  I  not  notice  the  kind  manner  in  which  we  were 
treated  by  a  gentleman,  named  Carr,  a  doctor,  who 
overtook  us  on  our  march  from  Chippewa  to  Fort 
George,  and  a  short  distance  from  the  former  place. 
In  conversation  with  me  he  stated  that  he  had  two 
sons,  Captains  in  the  British  army,  that  one  of  them 
had  been  for  some  time  a  prisoner  amongst  the  Amer 
icans,  and  that  he  had  been  well  treated,  that  the  other 
had  been  taken  at  the  battle  of  Chippewa,  and  that 
this  was  the  first  time  he  had  had  it  in  his  power  to 
evince  his  gratitude  to  any  of  the  American  Officers  ; 
he  at  the  same  time  requested  me  to  receive  a  twenty 
dollar  bill,  and  divide  it  with  my  companion  Major  Gal 
loway ;  in  our  circumstances  it  was  a  very  acceptable 
present ;  we  were  still  almost  naked,  and  it  was  even 
ing  of  the  third  day  since  the  battle  of  Chippewa,  and 
we  had  not  as  yet  been  supplied  with  rations,  and  were 


28 

obliged  to  march  part  of  the  afternoon  nearly  eleven 
miles.  He  returned  in  a  few  minutes  afterwards  with 
a  five  dollar  bill,  which  he  told  us  he  had  collected 
from  some  of  the  officers,  and  which  he  entreated  me 
to  divide  among  the  other  prisoners,  or  apply  to  their 
use  by  buying  necessaries  for  them,  which  was  accord 
ingly  done.  We  were  several  days  at  Fort  George 
before  the  vessels  were  ready  to  sail  for  York.  Late 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  fourth  day  after  we  had  been 
made  prisoners,  we  were  furnished  with  rations — we 
ate  our  beef  as  it  came  out  of  the  pickle,  as  we  could 
not  think  of  waiting  to  cook  it. 

While  we  remained  there,  an  officer,  who  from  his 
dress,  appeared  to  belong  to  the  dragoons,  called  to 
see  the  Major  and  myself,  and  in  course  of  conversa 
tion,  asked  us  if  we  had  any  tea  or  sugar,  or  any  li 
quors ;  he  continued  to  converse  sometime  in  a  very 
agreeable  manner,  and  then  took  his  leave.  A  short 
time  after  he  had  gone,  we  had  a  visit  trom  his  servant, 
who  brought  us  a  paper  of  tea,  some  sugar,  and  a  bot 
tle  of  rum.  All  the  time  we  drew  rations  we  were 
never  allowed  any  liquor,  and  got  none  except  the  one 
bottle  thus  made  a  present  of.  This  treatment  was 
very  different  from  what  they,  when  made  prisoners 
by  us,  experienced — if  any  part  of  the  rations  were 
scarce,  our  own  men  have  stinted  themselves  in  order 
that  the  prisoners  might  be  supplied — this  I  know  to 
be  a  fact,  as  the  men  belonging:  to  my  own  company 
have  gone  without  their  liquor,  that  prisoners  might  be 
better  accommodated.  The  evening  after  Galloway 
and  I  were  made  prisoners,  and  were  almost  perishing 
with  cold  and  hunger,  with  the  damp  ground  alone  for 
our  bed,  and  the  canopy  of  heaven  for  our  covering, 
the  British  officers  made  prisoners  by  our  troops,  were 
feasted  with  the  best  the  camp  could  afford.  The  of- 


29 

ficers  of  my  own  company  had  killed  a  fat  calf,  in  or 
der  to  have  something  nice  to  give  them  for  supper  ; 
as  they  were  strangers,  they  wished  to  entertain  them 
well,  and  would  have  been  happy  to  have  had  all  the 
officers  in  the  British  army  in  the  same  situation,  were 
it  only  to  afford  them  a  more  ample  field  for  the  exer 
cise  of  their  generosity — but  to  return.  We  were 
marched  into  York,  and  halted  for  about  half  an  hour 
at  a  tavern  ;  here  we  applied  to  the  landlady,  to  know  if 
she  could  provide  us  change  of  linen  ;  we  had  been  then 
upwards  of  two  weeks  without  change.  She  furnished 
us  with  two  old  shirts  more  than  half  worn  for  which, 
however,  we  had  to  pay  her  the  moderate  price  of  eight 
dollars. 

We  were  then  asked  if  we  would  accept  of  paroles 
to  go  to  Montreal,  stating  at  the  same  time  that  if  we 
did,  we  should  be  furnished  with  money  and  horses, 
and  if  we  did  not,  we  would  be  sent  on  board  a  boat 
under  guard.  We  concluded  that  it  would  be  better 
for  us  to  accept  the  terms  offered,  than  to  be  dragged 
under  guard  through  the  country;  however,  we  did  not 
profit  much  by  our  compliance,  for  an  hour  had  scarce 
ly  passed,  after  we  had  signed  the  parole,  when  we 
were  ordered  on  board  a  Durham  boat,  to  be  sent  un 
der  guard  to  Kingston.  The  British  officers  on  board, 
when  night  came  on,  went  ashore,  and  always  took 
Galloway  and  myself  with  them,  we  lodged  in  a  house 
convenient  to  the  vessel ;  the  others  prisoners  were  suf 
fered  to  remain  on  board,  under  guard. 

We  now  found  that  we  had  acted  unadvisedly  in 
accepting  of  paroles,  as  we  found  several  friends  here 
who  were  anxious  to  secrete  us  until  the  British  were 
gone,  and  then  they  promised  us  a  safe  landing  on  the 
American  shore.  These  friendly  and  tempting  offers, 
our  inconsiderateness  in  signing  paroles,  completely 


30 

prevented  our  accepting.  Hence  we  were  taken  to  the 
mouth  of  Ives'  creek,  about  eighteen  miles  below 
York,  where  we  put  up  for  the  night.  For  several 
days  past,  I  had  been  very  unwell,  owing  to  fatigue 
and  exposure  to  the  damp  night  air,  having  lain  out  a 
few  nights  before.  I  Avas  taken  with  a  violent  pain  in 
my  head,  which  lasted  for  nearly  two  hours,  I  then  ob 
tained  a  little  rest,  lay  down  in  the  boat,  and  fell  asleep 
when  the  crew  went  ashore;  the  officers  also  went  off, 
leaving  me  under  care  of  the  guard.  Having  slept  for 
some  time,  I  awoke  almost  perished,  and  calling  to  the 
guard,  who  had  lit  a  fire  on  shore,  they  threw  me  a 
plank,  by  means  of  which,  I  got  out  dry.  Before  I  had 
well  warmed  myself,  I  was  taken  intolerably  sick,  so 
much  so  indeed,  that  I  could  not  stand  up — they  fur 
nished  me  with  a  blanket,  and  I  lay  down  on  the  beach 
by  the  fire.  When  I  woke  in  the  morning,  I  was  wet 
to  the  skin,  the  blanket  having  absorbed  all  the  mois 
ture  from  the  sand.  All  that  day  I  remained  very  ill, 
and  upon  reaching  Mr.  Ives',  was  compelled  to  go  to 
bed.  Next  morning,  notwithstanding  my  sickness,  I 
was  marched  on  board,  but  the  wind  being  dead  ahead, 
and  blowing  fresh,  we  could  not  sail,  and  consequently 
returned  to  the  house.  On  the  following  day,  my  fe 
ver  had  gained  so  much  as  to  preclude  all  possibility  of 
my  being  removed,  in  fact,  I  was  completely  deranged. 
In  this  state  they  made  me  sign  a  parole,  and  a-n  article 
binding  myself  to  be  accountable  for  John  Hughes* 
should  he  make  his  escape — this  man  was  a  private  in 
my  own  company  and  had  been  made  prisoner  with  me  ; 
they  had  determined  to  leave  him  to  wait  on  me.  So 
unconscious  was  I,  at  the  time  I  signed  the  paper,  that  I 
knew  nothing  of  the  circumstance,  until  after  my  recove 
ry,  when  I  was  informed  of  the  circumstance  by  Major 
Galloway.  I  remained  in  a  very  bad  state  for  eight  or 


3* 

ten  days,  entirely  given  up  by  the  medical  gentleman 
who  had  been  appointed  by  government  to  attend  me ; 
he  had  informed  the  family  that  they  must  expect  my 
death,  and  so  firmly  were  they  convinced  of  it,  that 
they  actually  prepared  a  shroud  for  me,  and  Mr.  Ives 
was  looking  out  a  snug  corner  in  one  of  his  fields,  in 
which  to  deposit  me. 

Matters  were  in  this  train,  when  chance,  or  my  bet 
ter  fortune  brought  an  old  Yankee  Doctor,  as  they  call 
ed  him,  and  who  was  Mr.  Ives'  family  physician,  on  a 
visit  to  the  house — having  seen  me,  and  examined  the 
medicine  which  was  administering  to  me,  he  pronoun 
ced  my  case  as  desperate,  but  at  the  same  time  expres 
sed  an  opinion  that  something  might  yet  be  done  for 
me — he  accordingly  commenced  operations  by  having 
all  the  remaining  medicines  prescribed  by  my  former 
physician,  thrown  out,  and  ordered  me  a  treatment  di 
rectly  the  reverse  ;  whether  it  was  owing  to  this  change 
of  practice,  or  that  the  crisis  of  the  disease  had  arrived, 
I  am  not  sufficiently  versed  in  medicine  to  pass  opinion 
upon,  but  by  twelve  o'clock  that  night,  I  had  changed 
so  much  for  the  better,  as  to  have  recovered  my  rea 
son,  and  from  that  time  forward  my  progress  to  perfect 
health  was  slow  indeed,  but  sure.  To  the  kindness  of 
a  gentleman,  a  doctor,  who  resided  in  the  neighbour 
hood,  and  who,  during  the  first  stages  of  my  illness,  had 
called  once  or  twice  to  see  me,  and  prescribed  for  me 
until  such  time  as  the  government  doctor  commenced 
attendance,  and  to  another,  also  a  neighbour,  and  a 
namesake,  a  Mr.  White,  I  take  this  opportunity  of  pay 
ing  the  tribute  of  my  best  and  warmest  thanks,  (the 
poor  man's  only  guerdon)  for  their  liberality  in  sup 
plying  me  with  clothing,  acts  as  grateful  to  me,  as  they 
were  honorable  to  them.  When  I  had  recovered  suf 
ficiently  well  to  see  company,  I  had  many  visitors 


32 

from  several  miles  distance,  who  always  came  after 
dark,  and  returned  the  same  night ;  they  were  very 
anxious  to  know  what  was  the  intention  of  the  United 
States  in  sending  troops  into  Canada,  and  if  they  had 
determined  upon  taking  it — if  such,  they  said,  was  our 
intention,  a  powerful  party  in  Canada  might  be  raised 
to  assist  in  the  undertaking,  providing  the  United  States 
government  would  give  assurance  of  the  fact;  but  that 
so  much  had  they  been  deceived  by  Qen.  Hull,  that 
nothing  could  or  would  be  done  until  such  time  as  they 
had  something  satisfactory  to  rely  upon.  There  were 
an  immense  number  of  men  at  that  time  disaffected 
with  government,  and  had  the  United  States  deemed  it 
expedient,  or  possessed  the  means  of  sending  a  large 
army  into  Canada,  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  freeing 
them  from  British  dominion,  numbers  would  have 
flocked  to  our  standard,  and  they  might  with  reason 
have  trembled  for  their  possessions — but  to  return. 

About  this  time,  a  great  sensation  was  caused  by 
the  landing,  during  the  night,  of  a  boat,  about  two 
miles  below,  with  three  or  four  well  armed  men  on 
board,  who,  stationing  themselves  on  the  mail  road, 
shot  the  horse  of  the  mail  rider,  and  carried  off  the 
mail,  no  doubt  with  a  view  to  obtain  news  of  the  army, 
they  also  made  prisoners,  a  colonel  of  militia,  and  his 
son,  who  was  also  an  officer  in  the  militia.  They  took 
them  with  the  mail  rider,  to  the  beach  of  the  lake,  where 
having  stove  a  parcel  of  flour  lying  there,  they  threw 
it  into  the  water — they  then  compelled  the  prisoners 
to  gather  wood,  and  cook  their  victuals  for  them  ;  after 
which  they  were  paroled,  and  the  depredators  went 
off  unmolested. 

The  next  day  I  had  a  visit  from  Major  Rogers,  who 
seemed  alarmed  for  my  safety,  and  said  that  he  had 
expected  some  of  my  friends  had  been  to  see  me,  and 


33 

had  carried  me  off.  I  replied  that  I  believed  there 
was  not  much  danger  of  my  escape,  and  that  I  should 
look  well  into  whose  hands  I  surrendered  myself  a 
prisoner  again,  as  I  had  been  one  once  too  often  al 
ready.  He  said  he  would  not  trust  me,  and  that  as 
soon  as  my  health  was  sufficiently  established  to  allow 
of  my  removal,  he  would  have  me  carried  into  the 
country,  so  as  to  be  at  a  distance  from  the  lake. 

A  few  days  afterwards  he  called  again,  in  company 
with  a  physician,  who  having  examined  me,  declared 
me  unfit  for  removal — the  visit  was  continued  from 
time  to  time,  until  the  doctor  at  last  pronounced  me 
sufficiently  strong  for  removal.  During  my  residence 
with  Mr.  Ives,  himself  and  family  treated  me  with  the 
greatest  hospitality — had  I  been  a  relative,  they  could 
not  have  exerted  themselves  more  for  my  benefit — they 
have  my  highest  esteem,  and  highly  deserved  recom 
pense,  which,  had  I  the  power,  I  would  gladly  make. 
I  was  now  removed  some  miles  back  into  the  country, 
where  I  remained  for  ten  or  twelve  days,  and  was  then 
put  on  board  a  boat  under  the  care  of  Lieutenant  Nor- 
ris,  a  Canadian  militia  officer,  who  had  orders  from 
Major  Rogers  to  take  me  to  Kingston.  Rogers  was 
himself  a  militia  officer,  a  devoted  monarchist,  and  in 
consequence  of  his  zeal,  was  then,  though  stationed  at 
home  under  full  pay  from  his  government,  being  kept 
there  to  have  an  eye  to  the  inhabitants,  and  prevent 
them  from  making  their  escape  to  the  United  States. 
In  many  places  along  Lake  Ontario,  the  inhabitants 
had  deserted  their  homes  and  farms,  and  made  their 
way  good  to  the  United  States  ;  several  were  compelled 
to  fly  to  save  their  lives,  as  a  single  word  said  against 
the  government,  at  that  time,  was  sufficient  to  hang 
them.  Those  who  were  brought  prisoners  from  Fort 
George  to  York,  at  the  time  we  were  brought  on  there, 


34 

on  suspicion  of  being  friendly  to  the  American  cause, 
were,  as  I  afterwards  understood,  hanged,  and  some 
even  without  judge,  jury,  or  the  common  formalities  of 
a  trial. 

Arrived  at  Kingston,  I  was  handed  over  to  the  com 
manding  officer  of  that  post,  together  with  a  letter  of 
recommendation  from  Major  Rogers.  As  soon  as  he 
had  read  the  letter,  he  ordered  me  into  close  confine 
ment.  This  I  expected,  from  having  a  knowledge  of 
the  contents  of  the  letter,  given  me  by  an  officer  under 
promise- of  secrecy  ;  he  at  the  same  time  promised  me 
his  influence  in  obtaining  my  release  from  confine 
ment.  The  letter  went  on  to  state,  "  that  I  was  not  a 
commissioned  officer  of  the  United  States,  but  had 
headed  a  party  of  depredators,  who  had  come  into  Ca 
nada  for  the  sole  purpose  of  plundering  the  inhabi 
tants,  and  therefore  to  show  me  no  favors."  What 
could  have  been  Major  Rogers'  inducement  to  pen 
such  a  notoriously  manifest  falsehood,  I  cannot  divine* 
unless  for  the  mere  gratification  of  his  vile  disposition, 
and  the  rancorous  hatred  he  bore  to  every  one  who 
professed  republican  principles;  at  home  he  bore  the 
name  of  a  tyrant  and  was  generally  despised. 

I  will  relate  a  circumstance  which  will  serve  more 
fully  to  explain  his  character. — While  recovering,  and 
before  I  had  been  able  to  leave  my  room,  he  came  to 
see  me,  and  after  strutting  about  for  a  considerable 
time,  gave  me  to  understand  that  the  United  States 
would  shortly  be  compelled  to  surrender,  as  the  British 
troops  had  taken  their  Capitol,  Washington.  Mr.  Ives 
fearing  the  effect  such  information  might  have  upon 
me  in  my  then  reduced  state,  endeavored  to  change 
the  conversation  by  telling  the  Major  how  very  bad  I 
had  been  ;  he  interrupted  him  with  the  remark, — "  Oh, 
that  makes  no  difference,  Washington  being  taken  by 


35 

the  British,  the  United  States  will  of  course  become 
subject  to  them,  and  he,  (meaning  myself)  may  as 
well  die  now  as  at  any  other  time,  as  that  will  be  his 
fate  at  all  events.  I  was  irritated,  and  determined  that 
he  should  not  escape  with  impunity,  I  immediately  re 
plied  that  I  did  not  believe  one  word  of  his  informa 
tion  ;  he  retorted  somewhat  angrily  that  it  was  not  only 
taken,  but  burnt,  and  added,  even  were  it  not,  what 
chance  had  we  to  preserve  our  country,  having  a  sea 
coast  of  nearly  three  thousand  miles,  without  any  for 
tification  ;  the  United  States,  I  replied,  have  the  power 
to  fortify  the  whole  line  of  coast ;  and  to  his  enquiry,  in 
what  manner  they  could  do  it,  I  answered  with  men 
and  bayonets.  I  had  the  pleasure  to  see  him  depart  in 
no  very  enviable  humor. 

Through  the  influence  of  Lieutenant  Norris,  I  was 
liberated  on  the  evening  of  the  day  I  arrived  at  King 
ston,  in  which  place  I  remained  but  a  few  days,  and 
then  not  having  liberty  to  view  the  navy-yard,  and  in 
fact,  not  being  suffered  to  leave  the  street  in  which  I 
boarded,  I  had  no  opportunity  of  seeing  any  of  the  cu 
riosities  of  the  place.  Between  York  and  Kingston, 
although  a  distance  of  about  two  hundred  miles,  I  do 
not  recollect  having  seen  one  town,  either  situate  on, 
or  in  view  of  the  lake. 

I  was  now  put  on  board  a  boat  and  ordered  to  Mon 
treal.  After  we  had  got  some  distance  below  Kingston, 
perhaps  seventy  or  eighty  miles,  near  the  seven  Islands, 
we  met  a  fleet  of  boats,  one  hundred  and  ten  in  num 
ber,  two  of  which  were  gun  boats,  the  rest  were  laden 
with  military  stores,  cash  to  pay  the  troops,  and  the 
timbers  of  a  vessel  built  in  England,  even  to  the  last 
pin,  and  ready  to  put  together,  to  enable  them  to  main 
tain  their  superiority  on  lake  Ontario.  After  the  fleet 
had  passed,  I  intimated  to  the  officer  who  command- 


ed  the  boat  I  was  on  board  of,  that  I  would  be  much 
gratified  if  he  would  run  his  boat  on  the  other  side  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  which  he  could  do  with  as  much  fa 
cility  as  upon  this — his  reply  was,  I  understand  you,  sir, 
but  were  the  other  side  of  the  river  equally  near,  you 
could  not  make  your  escape,  as  upon  the  first  attempt, 
I  would  have  you  shot — I  bantered  him  by  telling  him, 
that  if  he  would  agree  to  run  his  boat  as  near  the  Amer 
ican  shore  as  he  then  was  to  the  British,  I  would  exe 
cute  a  bond  for  five  hundred  dollars,  payable  in  ten 
days,  in  any  house  in  Boston  or  New  York,  that  he 
might  mention,  and  he  might  fire  all  the  guns  on  board 
after  me,  and  kill  me  if  he  could ;  but  all  would  not  do, 
neither  bribe  nor  persuasion  could  induce  him  to  alter 
his  course.  I  well  knew  that  the  guns  had  lain  in  the 
boat  until  the  powder  was  so  damp  that  it  would  have 
been  next  to  a  miracle  if  one  amongst  them  would  go 
off.  It  was  my  fixed  determination  if  I  could  have  got 
near  enough,  to  have  made  the  shore,  to  have  jumped 
overboard,  and  run  all  risks.  Had  I  been  then  able  to 
have  effected  my  escape,  I  would  have  pressed  a  horse, 
and  made  the  best  of  my  way  to  Sackett's  harbor, 
where  I  would  have  given  information  of  the  fleet  of 
boats,  as  the  whole  of  them  might  have  been  easily  tak 
en,  and  would  have  been  a  valuable  prize. 

On  proceeding  a  little  further,  we  saw  a  drove  of  fat 
bullocks,  consisting  of  one  hundred  head  ;  which  I  learn 
ed,  had  been  smuggled  across,  from  the  state  of  New- 
York,  at  the  Seven  Islands.  The  drovers  were  met 
that  day  by  the  British  commissary,  who  paid  them 
twenty  dollars  per  hundred,  for  the  beef  cattle,  all  in 
gold.  Upon  their  return  down  the  river,  the  drovers 
put  up  for  the  night,  at  the  same  tavern  where  I  lodged  ; 
and,  sometime  after  supper,  I  walked  into  the  room 
where  they  were  seated ;  there  were  but  two  of  them, 


37 

and  had  the  gold  spread  on  the  table,  in  the  act  of  di 
viding  it.  I  that  night  obtained  information  of  their 
real  names,  for  they  had  passed  by  fictitious  ones ;  and, 
also  learned  the  name  of  the  town,  in  which  one  of 
them  resided,  and  made  a  memorandum  of  the  whole, 
with  a  view  to  their  apprehension,  if  I  could  make  my 
escape.  I  had  also  viewed  them  so  particularly,  that  I 
would  have  been  able  to  recognize  them  any  where  ;  but 
fortunately  for  them,  I  was  detained  in  imprisonment 
until  after  the  peace. 

The  conditions  of  my  parole  having  been  broken  by 
the  enemy,  by  my  imprisonment  at  Kingston,  I,  of 
course,  no  longer  felt  myself  in  honor  bound  to  comply 
with  them  ;  and  had  been  for  some  time  anxiously  wait 
ing  an  opportunity  of  effecting  an  escape.  I  had  some 
thoughts  of  making  the  attempt  that  night,  on  board  a 
large  canoe,  that  lay  a  little  way  down  the  river  from 
where  we  had  landed,  and  preparatory  to  my  going 
down  to  the  boat,  where  my  man  Hughes,  and  another 
young  man  who  belonged  to  the  boat,  and  who  had 
agreed  to  start  with  me  if  I  got  any  chance  of  escape, 
were  awaiting  me.  1  took  an  opportunity  to  enter  into 
conversation  with  one  of  the  smugglers  who  was  stand 
ing  by  the  door,  and  in  the  course  of  our  talk  enquired 
of  him  about  the  pass  of  the  Seven  Islands,  and  whe 
ther  the  Indians  who  inhabited  them,  were  friendly 
or  hostile ;  he  gave  me  some  little  information  and  after 
a  while  turned  into  the  house.  I  then  went  down  to 
the  boat  and  had  just  communicated  my  views  to 
my  friends,  when  I  was  called  to  from  the  house  by 
Lieutenant  Norris  ;  I  immediately  went  up,  after  hav 
ing  told  my  men  that  I  would  be  back  as  soon  as  I 
could  get  away,  and  that  we  should  then  put  out — the 
night  was  very  dark,  and  had  we  once  got  under  weigh, 
it  would  have  been  a  difficult  matter  to  re-capture  us. 


38 

Upon  my  reaching  the  house  imagine  my  disappoint 
ment  when  handed  into  a  room  by  the  Lieutenant, 
who  locked  the  door  as  soon  as  we  had  entered,  tell 
ing  me  that  he  would  keep  me  company,  and  pointing 
to  a  table  upon  which  lay  his  sword  and  pistols,  gave 
me  to  understand  that  he  would  kill  me,  if  I  made  an 
attempt  to  escape  ;  he  afterwards  informed  me  that  one 
of  the  smugglers  had  told  him  to  take  care  of  me,  as  I 
would  leave  him  to-night,  and  that  I  had  been  asking 
about  the  passes  of  the  Seven  Islands.  He  then  en 
treated  me  not  to  make  any  attempt  to  leave  him,  for 
if  I  made  my  escape  it  would  ruin  him,  as  Major  Ro 
gers  had  suspicions  about  his  loyalty,  and  he  believed 
that  I  was  placed  under  his  care,  merely  to  try  his  fi 
delity.  He  was  a  clever  fellow,  and  he  and  his  wife 
had  treated  me  well,  and  I  should  have  been  sorry  to 
have  attempted  any  thing  which  would  have  involved 
him  in  difficulties.  I  therefore  pledged  my  word  that 
I  would  not  attempt  leaving  him,  and,  for  the  pre 
sent  gave  up  my  hopes  of  escape  ;  he  however  remained 
with  me  until  morning,  when  we  re-embarked,  and 
proceeded  on  our  voyage.  Nothing  occurred  worth 
notice,  until  we  came  to  what  was  called  the  —  — , 

down  which,  though  a  distance  of  nine  miles,  we  pass 
ed  in  the  short  space  of  fifteen  minutes.  I  saw  some 
Canadians  drawing  up  a  boat,  which  appeared  to  be  a 
very  difficult  undertaking — they  had  a  long  rope  at 
tached  to  the  boat,  one  end  of  which  was  tugged  at  by 
twenty  or  thirty  men — hence  we  proceeded  to  La 
Chine,  a  distance  of  nine  miles  from  Montreal,  where 
having  landed,  Lieutenant  Norris  conducted  me  to  a 
tavern,  and  left  me  with  instructions  to  remain  there 
until  his  return.  In  the  mean  time  I  called  for  some 
thing  to  drink,  which  I  procured  without  difficulty.  I 
then  told  the  landlord  that  I  would  want  something  to 


39 

eat  also,  but  I  could  not  procure  a  mouthful.  Upon 
the  return  of  the  Lieutenant,  I  reported  my  bad  suc 
cess,  when  he  applied  with  no  better  fortune.  We 
then  proceeded  together  to  all  the  public  houses,  and  a 
good  many  of  the  private  ones  ;  nothing  was  to  be  had. 
It  was  then  nearly  dark  and  raining,  and  we  had  had 
nothing  to  eat  since  morning.  He  then  instructed  us 
to  proceed  on  the  road  to  Montreal,  until  we  could 
procure  something,  and  accordingly  John  Hughes, 
two  others  who  belonged  to  the  boat,  and  myself  put 
forward  on  the  road.  After  having  travelled  about 
a  mile,  we  came  to  a  good  looking  stone  house,  and 
here  I  repeated  my  call  for  supper,  and  received  for 
answer,  as  before,  that  I  could  not  have  any;  they  could 
not  give  us  what  they  had  not  themselves.  The 
rain  still  continued,  and  the  darkness  had  considerably 
increased ;  however  we  dashed  through  the  mud  for 
something  like  another  mile,  when  we  reached  ano 
ther  tavern  ;  here  we  received  the  same  answer  as  be 
fore,  and  as  for  lodging,  they  could  not  well  accom 
modate  us,  but  we  might  lie  down  on  the  bar-room  floor, 
which  was  covered  with  mud;  having  no  alternative  we 
were  obliged  to  accept  the  offer,  and  after  awhile  they 
procured  us  some  apples  and  milk,  for  which  they 
charged  us  a  handsome  price  ;  for  our  lodgings,  how 
ever,  they  charged  us  nothing.  We  set  forward  in  the 
morning  towards  Montreal,  and  after  travelling  two  or 
three  miles,  espied  a  snug  little  farm  house  at  some  dis 
tance  from  the  road  ;  the  prospect  looked  cheering,  and 
we  immediately  struck  off  in  its  direction.  The  farm 
er  himself,  who  proved  to  be  a  countryman  of  our  own, 
met  us  at  the  door,  invited  us  to  walk  in,  and  handed 
down  a  decanter  of  old  whiskey,  requesting  us  to  help 
ourselves.  When  he  heard  how  we  had  been  treated 
the  evening  before,  and  that  we  had  not  breakfasted, 


40 

but  would  gladly  do  so  with  him,  unless  he  should 
plead  poverty  as  the  rest  had  done ;  he  immediately  re 
plied  that  he  would  have  something  prepared  for  us, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  we  sat  down  to  as  good  a  break 
fast  as  any  man  could  wish  for,  and  with  stomachs  well 
prepared  for  wreaking  ample  satisfaction,  to  atone  for 
previous  abstemiousness.  Having  finished  breakfast, 
we  called  for  the  bill,  but  our  hospitable  entertainer 
absolutely  refused  to  receive  any  recompense,  saying 
that  he  should  be  visited  with  worse  times  than  the 
present,  before  he  would  receive  payment  for  so  tri 
fling  a  service  to  a  fellow  countryman. 

Nothing  deserving  notice  came  under  my  observa 
tion,  until  we  arrived  at  Montreal,  where  as  we  passed 
along  the  streets,  the  citizens  crowded  their  doors  and 
pavements,  and  pointing  to  me,  cried  out,  "there  goes 

an  American  officer  he's  a  d d  pretty  creature, 

isn't  he?"  I  had  then  been  a  prisoner  nearly  three 
months  and  was  without  hat,  coat  or  vest.  It  was  ex 
ceedingly  mortifying  to  me  to  be  held  up  in  my  present 
situation  as  a  specimen  of  American  officers,  after  hav 
ing  been  by  themselves  stripped  almost  to  a  state  of  nu 
dity.  I  was  exceedingly  wrath,  and  had  my  power  been 
then  equal  to  my  will,  I  would  have  taken  ample  ven 
geance. 

From  Kingston  to  Montreal,  along  the  St.  Lawrence, 
there  are  nine  smart  little  villages,  viz.:  Prescott, 
Youngstown,  Edwardsburg,  Williamsburg,  Osnaburg. 
Cromwell,  Dulac,  Cidris,  Vaudril  and  La  Chine.  Some 
part  of  the  country  appeared  to  be  fertile,  and  there 
were  several  handsome  farm  houses,  whose  exterior 
spoke  loudly  for  the  comfort  of  their  inhabitants. 

Montreal  is  the  capital  of  an  island  of  the  same  name, 
formerly  called  Villa  Marie;  it  is  the  second  place  in 
Canada  for  strength,  buildings  and  extent,  and  besides 


the  advantages  of  a  better  climate,  for  delightfulness  of 
situation,  is  much  preferable  to  Quebec.  It  stands  on 
the  side  of  a  hill  sloping  to  the  south,  with  many  agree 
able  villas  upon  it,  which,  with  the  island  of  St.  Helen, 
and  the  river,  which  is  about  two  miles  broad,  forms  a 
most  charming  landscape.  The  city  is  not  very  broad 
from  north  to  south,  but  covers  a  great  deal  of  ground 
from  east  to  west,  and  is  nearly  as  populous  as  Quebec. 
The  streets  are  regular,  forming  an  oblong  square, 
the  houses  well  built,  and  the  public  edifices  far  ex 
ceed  those  of  Quebec  in  beauty  and  commodiousness  ; 
the  residence  of  the  knights  hospitalers,  is  extremely 
magnificent;  there  are  several  gardens  within  the  walls, 
particularly  those  of  the  Governor,  the  Sisters  of  the 
Congregation,  the  Nunnery  Hospital,  the  Recollects, 
Jesuits  Seminary,  &c.;  there  are  also  many  other  gar 
dens  and  plantations  without  the  gates.  The  churches 
and  religious  houses  are  of  the  greatest  neatness  and 
simplicity.  The  city  has  seven  gates,  but  its  fortifica 
tions  are  inconsiderable,  being  encompassed  by  a  slight 
wall  of  masonry,  sufficient  only  to  prevent  a  surprise 
from  the  numerous  tribes  of  Indians,  with  whom  they 
are  surrounded,  and  who  used  to  resort  in  large  bodies, 
to  the  annual  fair,  held  here  from  June  to  the  end  of 
August.  On  the  inside  of  the  town,  is  a  cavalier  on 
an  artificial  eminence,  with  a  parapet,  and  six  or  eight 
guns,  called  the  citadel.  The  number  of  inhabitants, 
I  was  informed,  amounted  to  about  six  thousand.  The 
neighboring  shores  supply  them  with  a  vast  variety  of 
game  in  the  different  seasons,  and  the  island  abounds 
with  soft  springs,  which  form  many  pleasant  rivulets. — 
They  drive  a  considerable  trade  in  furs  ;  and  the  place 
is  well  calculated  for  commerce,  as  vessels  of  two  hun 
dred  tons  burthen  can  come  directly  up  to  the  city.  It 
stands  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  south  of  Que- 


42 

bee,  and  one  hundred  and  ten  north  of  Albany.  This 
island  formerly  belonged  to  the  French,  but  was  taken 
by  generals  Amherst  and  Murray,  on  the  eighth  ot  Sep 
tember,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty.  By 
the  capitulation,  all  the  French  forces  were  sent  to  old 
France,  and  thus  it  became  subject  to  the  crown  of 
Great-Britain  ;  it  was  afterwards  confirmed  to  them  by 
the  peace  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty- 
three. 

After  I  had  been  in  Montreal  a  few  days,  I  was  giv 
en  to  understand,  that  a  number  of  American  officers 
had  been  paroled  home  from  this  place,  and  made  ap 
plication  to  the  provost  major  for  a  parole  to  go  home  ; 
he  would  apply  to  the  governor,  he  said,  and  if  I  would 
call  at  his  office  in  a  day  or  two,  he  would  inform  me  of 
the  result.  After  repeated  calls  on  my  part,  he  en 
quired  upon  what  terms  I  expected  to  be  paroled.  I 
told  him  I  would  agree  not  to  lift  arms,  until  legally 
exchanged.  He  then  asked  me  if  I  would  agree  not 
to  lift  arms  during  the  war  ?  I  replied  that  it  was  not 
fair  to  ask  me  to  agree  to  such  terms,  and  that  at  all 
events,  I  could  not,  nor  would  not  accept  of  a  parole, 
badly  as  I  liked  being  a  prisoner,  upon  any  such  terms. 
He  then  informed  me  that  I  would  not  be  paroled  on 
any  other  terms ;  and  so  finished  the  discussion. 

A  short  time  afterwards,  a  chance  of  escape  was  of 
fered  me  by  a  friend,  who  promised  to  procure  me  a 
pass,  provided  I  would  change  my  name,  and  enter 
with  him  as  a  boatman.  When  I  reached  the  narrows, 
I  could  take  a  canoe  and  paddle  across  to  the  Ameri 
can  shore,  as  he  was  going  up  the  river  with  liquor  to 
the  British  army.  This  I  declined,  not  liking  the  idea 
of  changing  my  name  ;  and  it  was  absolutely  necessary 
for  any  one  who  attempted  to  travel  in  that  country 
then,  to  have  a  pass,  as  to  be  found  without  one,  sub- 


43 

jected  the  person  to  instant  arrest,  and  of  course  I 
could  not  apply  for  one  in  my  own  name,  consequent 
ly  could  not  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity. 

While  killing  time  one  day  in  a  tavern  at  Montreal, 
a  deserter  from  the  American  army  came  in,  who  had  a 
great  deal  to  say  about  the  Americans.  To  the  ques 
tion  of  why  he  deserted,  he  replied  that  it  was  entirely 
in  consequence  of  the  bad  treatment  he  received  from 
his  officers.  We  had  some  warm  words,  and  I  caution 
ed  him  to  be  careful,  now  that  winter  was  coming  on, 
in  case  he  could  not  get  work  to  support  himself,  which 
it  was  more  than  probable  would  prove  the  case,  not  to 
turn  his  hand  to  stealing,  as  a  comrade  of  his  had  been 
hanged  but  a  few  days  before  for  an  offence  of  the 
kind ;  and  it  was,  I  thought,  a  most  excellent  plan 
adopted  by  the  British,  to  get  rid  of  such  rubbish,  as  no 
man  can  place  confidence  in.  It  may  well  be  supposed 
that  he  did  not  wait  to  hear  any  more. 

About  this  time  a  man  who  resided  a  few  miles  from 
town  came  and  told  me  that  if  I  would  give  him  one 
hundred  dollars,  he  would  deliver  me  safe  in  the  United 
States,  in  the  course  of  one  night.  Soon  after,  a 
gentleman,  a  resident  of  Montreal,  told  me,  that  if  I 
would  disguise  myself  by  putting  on  a  good  suit  of 
clothes,  he  would  give  me  a  seat  in  his  calash,  procure 
a  pass  for  me,  and  carry  me  in  part  of  a  day  to  where  I 
might  conveniently  cross  in  a  canoe.  Both  these  of 
fers  required  money,  and  I  postponed  answering  for  a 
clay  or  two,  hoping  that  I  might  be  able  to  raise  the 
money  by  some  exertion.  Accordingly  I  enquired 
of  my  landlord,  he  being  an  American,  whether  he 
could  inform  me  of  any  means  of  procuring  fifty  or  one 
hundred  dollars  on  loan  ;  he  recommended  me  to  a  mer 
cantile  house,  which  he  told  me,  was  immensely  rich, 
and  American ;  the  name  of  the  firm  was  "  Ballas  and 


44 

Gaits,"  they  had  made  a  splendid  fortune  by  smuggling 
business,  carried  on  between  them  and  some  of  the 
merchants  of  New-York  and  Boston,  who  exchanged 
flour,  etc.,  for  dry  goods;  if  I  would  apply  to  them,  he 
thought  there  would  be  no  doubt  of  my  success.  In 
pursuance,  therefore,  of  this  advice,  I  immediately  wait 
ed  upon  Mr.  Gaits,  and  after  stating  my  situation  to  him, 
told  him  I  had  been  recommended  to  apply  to  his 
house  for  the  loan  of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars, 
and  that  I  would  pay  the  amount  with  any  per  centage 
he  might  demand,  to  any  house  in  New-York  or  Boston, 
in  ten  days  after  I  should  have  arrived  in  the  United 
States.  He  then  enquired  if  I  had  made  my  case 
known  to  the  British  officers,  and  upon  my  replying 
that  they  were  well  acquainted  with  all  the  circum 
stances  of  my  situation,  remarked  that  if  the  gentlemen 
of  the  place  were  made  acquainted  with  my  wants,  the 
sum  would  easily  be  raised.  I  told  him  that  although 
reduced  by  misfortune  to  the  disagreeable  necessity  of 
applying  to  a  stranger,  and  I  expected  a  gentleman,  for 
a  loan  of  money,  I  was  not  yet  reduced  to  beggary, 
and  left  him. 

About  this  time  Cornet  Gillas  was  brought  on,  and 
left  at  the  same  house  with  me ;  he  was  a  spirited, 
and  had  been  a  very  stout  young  man,  but  was  now 
much  disabled,  by  rheumatic  pains,  which  I  believe  he 
never  got  entirely  rid  of.  Having  been  irritated  while 
at  Fort  George,  by  being  put  into  the  guard-house, 
among  several  refractory  soldiers,  he  had  commenced 
beating  them  with  a  leg  of  a  bench,  which  he  had  bro 
ken  off,  and  before  the  guard  alarmed  by  the  cries  of 
"  murder"  had  time  to  come  to  their  assistance,  he  had 
knocked  down  three  or  four.  For  this,  he  was  taken 
and  stretched  on  a  log,  sunk  level  with  the  ground, 
where  he  was  tightly  fastened  down  with  ropes,  and 


45 

kept  in  that  position  for  several  days.  It  was  here  he 
had  taken  the  rheumatic  pains,  under  which  he  was 
suffering. 

A  company  of  merchants,  five  in  number,  from  Long 
Point,  and  who  had  come  to  Montreal  to  lay  in  goods, 
put  up  at  the  tavern  where  I  lodged,  and  sent  me  an 
invitation  to  come  to  their  room  after  supper,  and 
drink  some  wine  with  them.  They  were  very  sociable, 
and  made  a  good  many  inquiries  relative  to  my  impris 
onment  and  subsequent  treatment.  I  gratified  them 
in  every  particular.  Next  morning,  I  was  speaking  to 
one  of  their  boatman,  who  was  going  to  get  his  watch 
repaired,  and  I  asked  him  to  show  it  to  me,  and  to  my 
astonishment  he  drew  out  my  own  watch.  It  had  a 
compass  on  the  face  of  it,  and  the  needle  being  loose, 
I  asked  him  if  he  could  fasten  it,  and  upon  his  answer 
ing  that  he  could  not,  I  told  him  to  hand  it  to  me,  and 
I  would  fasten  it  for  him  ;  when  he  was  in  the  act  of 
reaching  it  to  me,  I  remarked,  that  I  had  carried  that 
watch  a  much  longer  time  than  he,  and  that  it  was  the 
very  one  which  had  been  taken  from  me  by  the  Indians, 
when  I  was  made  prisoner;  he  immediately  drew  back 
his  hand,  when  I  told  him  not  to  be  alarmed,  as  I  had 
no  notion  of  laying  claim  to  it,  as  I  supposed  he  came 
honestly  by  it.  He  then  handed  it  to  me,  when  I  put 
in  the  needle,  I  showed  him  the  spring  which  fastened 
it,  and  returned  it  to  him,  saying,  that  if  I  had  money 
I  would  buy  it  of  him,  as  it  was  a  favorite  watch,  and 
had  been  the  gift  of  a  brother,  now  dead  ;  but,  that  as 
my  means  had  been  taken,  as  wrell  as  my  watch,  I  had 
no  means  of  gratifying  myself,  by  its  recovery.  The 
same  evening,  however,  the  merchants  again  sent  for 
me  to  their  room,  and  after  some  conversation,  and 
drinking  a  few  glasses  of  wine,  one  of  them  drew  out 
my  watch,  and  presented  it  to  me,  saying,  he  hoped  I 


46 

would  receive  it  as  a  mark  of  their  friendship,  and  that 
they  felt  very  happy  in  being  able  to  restore  it  to  me. 
They  had  each  subscribed  five  dollars.  I  feel  sorry  that 
I  cannot  recollect  the  names  of  men  who  acted  so  very 
generously. 

Next  morning  Gillas  and  I  were  ordered  to  repair  to 
the  wharf,  there  to  go  aboard  a  vessel  bound  for  Que 
bec;  previous  to  going  on  board,  I  called  to  bid  Mrs. 
Norris  farewell ;  she  inquired  if  T  had  any  money  to 
purchase  necessaries  for  the  voyage,  and  upon  my 
replying  that  I  had  not,  presented  me  with  four  dollars, 
which  she  insisted  upon  my  taking,  regretting,  at  the 
same  time,  the  absence  of  her  husband,  which  disabled 
her  from  giving  me  a  much  larger  sum.  We  repaired, 
according  to  orders,  to  the  wharf,  and  went  aboard  of  a 
merchant  vessel.  I  regret  very  much  that  the  loss  of 
detached  parts  of  my  manuscript,  has  put  it  out  of  my 
power  in  several  instances  to  mention  the  names  of 
persons  from  whom  I  had  received  kindnesses;  the 
captain  of  the  vessel  which  conveyed  us  to  Quebec,  is 
amongst  the  number  of  those,  whose  names  it  would 
have  afforded  me  pleasure  to  record  ;  he  was  in  every 
sense  of  the  word,  a  gentleman.  He  conducted  us  to 
his  cabin,  and  opened  for  us  his  library,  assuring  us  if 
we  could  find  any  thing  in  it  to  divert  ourselves,  we 
were  perfectly  welcome  to  its  use.  When  dinner  time 
came  he  sent  for  us  to  dine  with  him,  and  continued 
to  entertain  us  at  his  own  table  all  the  time  we  were 
aboard;  dinner  over,  he  brought  in  brandy  and  wine, 
requesting  us  to  make  choice  and  help  ourselves.  In 
the  evening,  after  supper,  we  had  our  wine  arid  a  pack 
of  cards  for  our  amusement,  when  he  would  himself 
take  a  hand.  This,  as  the  saying  is,  was  too  good  to 
last  long,  and  in  three  days  we  reached  Quebec,  a 
large  and  handsome  town,  and  the  capital  of  Canada. 


47 

The  first  place  taken  notice  of  upon  landing  here,  is  a 
square  of  an  irregular  figure,  with  well  built  houses 
on  each  side,  on  the  back  of  which  is  a  rock  ;  on  the 
left  it  is  bounded  by  a  small  church,  and  on  the  right 
are  two  rows  of  handsome,  and  apparently  convenient 
houses,  built  parallel  to  each  other.  There  is  another 
row  between  the  church  and  the  harbor,  and  another 
and  a  large  one  on  the  side  of  the  bay.  This  is  a  kind 
of  suburb  ;  between  this  and  the  great  street  is  a  very 
steep  ascent,  with  steps  for  foot  passengers.  This  is 
what  is  called  the  Upper  Town ;  the  city  being  divided 
into  an  Upper  and  Lower  Town.  In  the  upper  is  sit 
uated  the  Bishop's  palace,  a  very  elegant  and  splendid 
building,  and  between  two  large  squares  is  a  fort,  where 
the  Governor  lodges.  The  Recolects,  a  sort  of  Francis 
can  friars,  have  handsome  houses  over  against  it.  On 
the  right  of  the  Cathedral,  and  directly  facing  it,  stands 
the  ci-devant  Jesuits  college.  In  a  direct  line  from 
the  fort,  and  parallel  to  each  other,  run  two  streets 
which  are  crossed  by  a  third,  and  between  these  and 
the  Governor's  house  are  situate  a  church  and  a  con 
vent.  The  houses  are  mostly  built  of  stone,  and  the 
number  of  inhabitants  amounted,  I  was  informed,  to 
about  seven  thousand.  The  fort  is  also  a  handsome 
building.  Quebec  is  situated  at  the  confluence  of  the 
rivers  St.  Lawrence  and  St.  Charles.  The  river, 
which  from  the  sea  hither,  is  about  four  or  five  leagues 
broad,  narrows  all  of  a  sudden  to  the  breadth  of  a  mile. 
The  harbor  is  safe  and  commodious,  and  the  water  is 
about  five  fathoms  deep. 

Quebec  is  not  regularly  fortified,  but  it  cannot  be 
easily  taken,  for  the  harbor  is  flanked  with  two  bastions, 
which  at  high  tides  are  almost  level  with  the  water. 
In  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  eleven,  the  Bri 
tish  fitted  out  a  fleet,  with  a  design  to  conquer  Can- 


48 

ada,  which  failed,  in  consequence  of  the  Admiral  rash 
ly  following  his  own  opinion,  although  in  direct  contra 
diction  to  the  advice  of  his  pilot,  in  sailing  too  close  to 
the  "  Seven  Isles,"  by  which  piece  of  imprudence  he 
lost  his  largest  ships,  and  upwards  of  three  thousand 
of  his  best  soldiers.  On  the  eighteenth  of  October, 
seventeen  hundred  and  fifty-nine,  it  was  taken  however, 
by  the  British,  under  the  command  of  General  Wolfe, 
who  fell  in  the  battle,  after  he  had  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  his  troops  were  victorious. 

In  December,  seventeen  hundred  and  seventy-five' 
it  was  attacked  by  the  Americans,  under  General 
Montgomery,  who  was  killed,  and  his  army  repulsed. 
Quebec  lies  three  hundred  and  twelve  miles  from  the 
sea  coast,  and  five  hundred  and  ninety  northwest  of 
Boston. 

Having  arrived  here  we  were  paroled  to  Beaufort, 
a  village  at  the  distance  of  about  three  miles,  where  we 
were  ordered  to  proceed  immediately.  We  got  into 
a  calash  or  sort  of  gig,  which  carried  us  there  in  a  short 
time,  for  which  conveyance  we  were  charged  two 
dollars  each.  Here  we  fell  into  company  with  a  num 
ber  of  paroled  officers,  and  here  I  again  came  into 
company  with  my  old  friends  and  companions,  Major 
Galloway  and  Captain  Roberts  from  Cumberland  coun 
ty,  the  latter  of  whom  had  been  made  prisoner  at  the 
battle  of  Bridgewater,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  July  eigh 
teen  hundred  and  fourteen. 

Here  also  we  met  with  Major  Wilson,  Major  Stau- 
ton,  Col.  Churchill,  and  several  other  officers  from  the 
state  of  New-York.  The  hostages  who  had  been  kept 
in  Quebec  prison  for  several  months,  were  also  at  this 
place  under  parole. 

The  officers  whose  names  I  have  above  mentioned, 
had  been  marched  to  this  place  over  land,  under  guard, 


49 

and  had  been,  during  their  march,  treated  by  the  guard 
with  the  utmost  contempt.  When  in  their  passage 
along  the  roads,  they  came  in  contact  with  a  mud  hole, 
although  there  might  be  plenty  of  room  to  pass  round, 
they  were  compelled  to  walk  through  it,  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet.  In  many  places  they  were  almost  knee 
deep  in  mud. 

During  the  whole  of  the  war,  the  treatment  receiv 
ed  by  the  American  prisoners,  was  cruelly  mortify 
ing  to  them,  and  deeply  degrading  to  the  captors.  That 
of  an  officer  belonging  to  the  New-York  militia,  who 
had  been  wounded  and  made  prisoner,  was  shameful  in 
the  extreme  :  He  had  been  shot  through  his  shoulder, 
and  had  his  collar-bone  broken,  so  that  he  could  not 
raise  his  arm,  and  it  was  put  into  a  sling  by  some  of 
his  companions.  He  was  dragged  all  the  way  to  Mon 
treal  without  having  had  his  wound  dressed,  and  even 
in  his  bloody  clothes,  a  distance  of  at  least  fifty  miles, 
where  it  was  dressed;  but  assistance  so  long  neglected 
came  too  late,  and  the  unfortunate  man  died  at  Beau 
fort,  totally  neglected.  I  never  felt  more  pity  for  suf 
fering  humanity,  than  this  poor  fellow's  case  excited. 
Death  is  at  all  times  a  scene  of  sorrow,  even  when  ac 
companied  by  every  thing  calculated  to  soothe  the  mind, 
and  relieve  the  anxiety  of  the  sufferer ;  how  much  more 
distressing,  therefore,  must  have  been  the  situation  of  a 
man  dying  far  from  home,  in  the  midst  of  his  enemies, 
and  under  the  most  mortifying  treatment,  with  his 
thoughts  resting  on  his  family,  who  would  be  left  to  la 
ment  his  loss  ? 

I  will  mention  another  instance  of  unfeeling  treat 
ment,  towards  a  private  soldier  ;  a  musket  ball  had  brok 
en  his  leg,  and  in  the  absence  of  all  other  care  or  at 
tendance,  his  companions  had  splintered  it  up  as  well 
as  they  knew  how,  and  it  was  beginning  to  heal.  On  his 


50 

way  to  La  Chine,  where  he  was  taken  by  water,  he  was 
rudely  thrown  from  the  boat  by  a  British  soldier,  be 
cause  he  did  not  move  as  fast  as  those  who  were  well, 
and  his  leg  was  again  broken.  He  was  then  hauled  in 
a  cart,  into  which  he  was  brutally  tumbled,  to  Montreal, 
in  a  state  of  extreme  suffering. 

At  Beaufort  the  officers  formed  themselves  into  mess 
es,  and  rented  a  room  or  two,  as  the  mess  was  larger 
or  smaller.  Major  Galloway,  Stanton,  myself  and  some 
others,  whose  names  I  do  not  recollect,  belonged  to 
Col.  Churchill's  mess.  The  Colonel  and  Major  Gal 
loway  had  each  a  man  to  wait  on  them,  who  cooked  for 
us.  We  paid  three  dollars  a  week  for  the  room,  and 
the  privilege  of  cooking  at  the  kitchen  fire ;  a  cart  load 
of  wood  cost  two  dollars,  a  turkey  one  dollar,  a  chicken 
twenty-five  cents,  and  beef  was  twenty  cents  a  pound, 
and  by  marketing  for  ourselves,  and  messing  together 
we  fared  better  and  at  less  cost,  than  if  we  were  at  a 
boarding  house.  Capt.  Roberts  boarded  at  the  only 
tavern  in  the  place,  and  from  their  manner  of  cooking, 
which  I  witnessed  one  day,  I  had  no  desire  whatever, 
to  belong  to  his  company.  Eels  they  kept  barrelled 
up  as  herrings  are,  and  they  cook  them  in  a  different 
manner  from  what  I  had  ever  seen  before,  which  is 
called  the  French  method.  The  landlady,  whom  I  saw 
dress  them,  took  a  large  one  out  of  the  barrel,  it  was 
just  as  it  had  been  caught,  except  that  it  had  been  in 
pickle,  and  having  twisted  it  around  in  the  form  of  a 
ring,  tied  it  in  that  shape  with  a  piece  of  thread,  when 
opening  the  bar-room  stove  door  she  hung  it  on  a  hook 
placed  inside  of  the  stove,  and  closing  the  door  left  it 
there.  After  a  while  she  came  back  with  a  plate  in  her 
hand,  and  with  a  tongs  removed  the  eel,  and  put  it  on 
the  plate,  when  it  was  conveyed  to  the  table,  and  the 
guests  commenced  carving  and  helping  themselves. 


Those  who  disliked  eating  the  skin,  might  leave  it  with 
the  intestines  on  the  plates. 

We  had  the  privilege  of  walking  as  far  as  the  bridge 
over  the  river  Montmorency,  near  which  is  a  beautiful 
waterfall,  formed  by  the  waters  of  the  Montmorency, 
pouring  over  steep  rocks,  and  falling  with  a  tremendous 
noise,  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  from  a  distance  of  from 
one  to  two  hundred  feet. 

Major  Vandewenter,  from  Philadelphia,  one  of  the 
hostages,  who  had  been  confined  in  Quebec  Jail,  \vas 
at  that  time  permitted  by  the  British  to  act  as  Ameri 
can  agent,  the  former  agent  having  been  sent  home 
some  time  previous.  In  making  out  his  requisition 
to  pay  for  cloathing,  £c.,  he  so  managed  as  to  have 
such  an  overplus,  as  enabled  him  to  give  each  of  us  two 
months  pay,  with  which  I  purchased  cloathing. 

The  houses  here  are  principally  of  stone,  two  stories 
high,  with  very  steep  roofs;  they  are  built  in  this  man 
ner  to  facilitate  the  falling  off  of  the  snow,  in  the  win 
ter,  which  would  otherwise  injure  the  roof,  as  it  lies  in 
that  season,  to  the  depth  of  from  six  to  seven  feet.  The 
quality  of  the  land,  about  Beaufort,  appears  to  be 
good,  principally  lime  stone  ;  the  farms  are  narrow,  run 
ning  in  one  direction,  to  the  base  of  a  large  mountain, 
and  in  the  other  to  the  water's  edge.  The  people 
here  are  excessively  fond  of  onions,  you  will  hardly 
find  a  family,  who  will  not  lay  up  for  winter  use,  from 
fifty  to  a  hundred  bushels.  They  seem  to  live  very 
poorly,  not  being  able  to  buy  beef  on  account  of  its 
very  high  price. 

1  had  been  here  between  three  and  four  weeks,  when 
one  evening  a  British  officer  came  in  and  told  us  we 
must  make  preparations  to  go  on  board  of  a  vessel  then 
in  harbor  and  bound  for  Halifax,  on  the  following  even 
ing.  We  enquired  if  it  would  be  necessary  for  us  to 


52 

purchase  sea  stores,  and  were  told  that  it  would  be  en 
tirely  unnecssary,  as  we  should  fare  as  well  as  the  Ad 
miral.  We  accordingly  went  aboard  without  making 
any  preparations,  and  were  put  in  possession  of  a  large 
cabin.  The  weather  was  very  cold,  and  it  blew  quite 
a  gale.  That  evening  the  Captain  went  ashore,  and 
Captain  Hunt,  from  the  state  of  New  York,  who  had 
previously  managed  to  engage  a  Frenchman,  to  pilot 
him  across  the  country  to  the  United  States,  in  case  he 
should  be  able  to  make  his  escape,  commenced  prepa 
rations ;  the  better  to  assisst,  the  Frenchman  had  hired 
himself  on  board  in  capacity  of  a  waiter;  they  got  out 
of  the  cabin  window  into  the  boat  which  lay  astern,  but 
to  their  mortification,  found  there  were  no  oars  ;  these, 
after  considerable  manoeuvering  we  managed  to  convey 
from  deck  into  the  cabin,  one  party  keeping  the  guard 
busy  in  conversation  ;  from  the  cabin  they  were  handed 
to  the  boat,  and  having  muffled  the  oars,  and  being 
joined  by  four  others,  the  painter  was  cut,  and  not 
withstanding  there  were  fifty  sail  of  vessels  in  the  har 
bor,  each  one  having  a  lanthorn  mounted,  and  two 
guards  patrolling  the  deck,  they  effected  their  escape, 
and  got  safe  to  land.  There  still  remained  on  board 
the  vessel,  seventeen  of  our  number,  so  that  those  who 
made  their  escape  were  not  missed  until  the  following 
morning  at  nine  o'clock,  when  the  Captain  came 
aboard  and  had  the  roll  called.  We  were  told  to  pre 
pare  to  leave  the  cabin  in  an  hour,  and  that  wre  should 
in  future  take  up  our  quarters  in  the  hold  ;  when  we 
urged  that  it  was  rather  a  hard  case  to  punish  us,  for 
the  offences  of  others,  our  captain  told  us  that  he  was 
very  well  aware  that  they  could  not  have  got  away 
without  our  assistance.  We  then  stated  that  it  seem 
ed  rather  like  punishing  us  for  not  having  availed  our 
selves  of  the  opportunity  presented  us,  as  the  boat  was 


S3 

sufficiently  large  to  hold  us  all — the  only  reply  he  con 
descended  to  make  us,  was,  that  he  would  let  us  know 
that  we  had  our  eldest  "  brudder"  aboard,  and  that  he 
would  take  care  of  us — he  was  a  Scotchman  by  the 
name  of  Snowden.  When  the  hour  given  us  for  pre 
paration  had  expired,  we  were  marched  into  the  hold, 
where  we  were  kept  for  twenty-one  days,  three  days 
and  nights  of  which  we  had  nothing  to  eat,  and  when 
at  length  they  did  furnish  us  \vith  provisions,  they  were 
of  such  a  quality  as  an  American  dog  would  not  eat, 
without  the  necessary  stimulus  of  starvation — they  con 
sisted  of  old  sea  bread  or  biscuit,  which,  for  any  thing  I 
know,  was  twenty  years  old,  at  all  events,  it  was  so 
completely  eaten  up  by  the  worms,  all  that  the  worms 
could  penetrate,  the  outside  part  being  only  left,  and 
that  was  so  hard  that  it  would  require  a  hammer  to 
break  it.  Bad  as  it  was  we  were  not  furnished  with 
more  than  one  fourth  of  a  common  soldier's  allowance. 
This  was  shovelled  up  into  a  sack  and  with  a  bone  of 
beef  thrown  into  the  hold  as  if  to  so  many  dogs.  We 
cut  the  meat  and  broke  the  bread  into  small  pieces,  and 
boiled  all  together,  making  a  kind  of  soup  called  lob- 
scouse  ;  while  it  was  in  preparation,  we  had  made  each 
of  us  a  spoon,  and  this  done,  it  was  poured  out  upon  a 
large  wooden  dish,  and  standing  round,  we  played 
away,  until  the  hollow  rattle  of  our  spoons  upon  the 
dish  reminded  us  that  it  was  empty.  We  fared  twice 
a  day  in  this  sumptuous  manner.  The  water  too 
which  they  gave  us  to  drink  was  most  dreadful  stuff;  no 
human  being  could  drink  it  without  holding  his  nose, 
the  stench  was  so  great.  In  the  evening,  our  waiter 
had  the  good  fortune  to  procure  us  a  bucket  of  water, 
which  was  divided  amongst  us  as  though  it  was  a  lux 
ury,  and  indeed  to  our  tasting,  it  was  delicious. 

When  we  came  to   a  place  called    "Ship    Harbour," 


54 

the  vessels  were  obliged  to  lie  to  for  a  couple  of  days, 
in  consequence  of  bad  weather.  We  had  a  very  hea 
vy  sea,  and  the  winds  were  very  rough,  and  previous  to 
our  reaching  Ship  Harbour,  had  lost  one  of  the  vessels 
belonging  to  the  fleet,  which  I  believe  was  never  heard 
of.  It  must  have  gone  down,  as  a  few  days  afterwards, 
the  bodies  of  some  of  the  crew  were  picked  up  on 
shore,  where  they  had  been  cast,  and  were  recognized 
by  the  device  and  number  on  their  buttons.  Fortu 
nately  there  were  no  Americans  on  board  of  her.  Here 
we  were  transferred  to  another  vessel,  bound  to  Eng 
land  ;  after  we  had  been  put  on  board,  we  were  order 
ed  to  go  below  among  the  sick  and  invalids — they  were 
then  dying  fast,  and  they  were  every  day  throwing 
them  overboard  ;  the  place  too,  was  very  filthy,  and  full 
of  vermin.  We  refused  to  go  down,  and  remained  on 
deck  the  whole  day,  which  was  bitterly  cold,  and  the 
wind  very  high.  We  then  petitioned  the  Admiral  for 
better  quarters,  than  those  assigned  to  us,  and  declar 
ed  in  the  strongest  terms  that  we  would  otherwise  re 
main  on  deck  until  we  perished,  and  we  walked  the 
deck  from  early  in  the  morning  until  dark,  when  one 
of  the  army  officers  invited  us  into  their  cabin,  where 
they  had  something  prepared  for  us  to  eat,  which  was 
the  first  meal  we  had  eaten  since  we  had  had  our  lob- 
scouse  the  day  previous. 

Next  morning  we  were  ordered  back  on  board  of  the 
vessel  we  had  left,  and  taking  advantage  of  the  oppor 
tunity  offered  us  by  the  sailors,  some  of  whom  were  go 
ing  ashore,  we  gave  them  some  money,  to  purchase  for 
us  something  to  eat.  When  they  returned  they  brought 
us  a  bag  of  potatoes  and  some  fresh  cat-fish,  of  which 
we  soon  cooked  a  mess,  and  1  thought  it  was  the  best 
meal  I  had  ever  eaten.  After  the  storm  had  some 
what  abated  we  again  set  sail  for  Halifax. 


55 

The  fleet  that  went  down  with  us,  consisted  of  twen 
ty  sail,  two  of  which  were  seventy-fours  ;  after  we  had 
been  several  days  in  the  hold,  the  stove  was  hoisted  up 
on  deck,  and  we  were  compelled  to  do  without  fire  for 
the  balance  of  the  passage.  Orders  had  been  issued 
that  the  lights  should  be  extinguished  at  eight  o'clock, 
and  that  the  fire  in  the  stove  should  be  drowned  out 
at  nine  o'clock.  In  consequence  of  neglect  in  this  last 
particular,  we  suffered  this  severe  privation.  The  wea 
ther  was  extremely  cold,  and  the  ropes  were  all  hang 
ing  with  ice,  besides  we  could  not  induce  the  Captain 
to  sell  us  any  provisions.  I  offered  the  cabin  boy  one 
dollar  for  a  pint  of  beef  soup,  but  he  refused,  saying, 
that  if  he  gave  it,  he  would  get  the  rope's  end — he  sold 
us  rum,  however,  at  one  dollar  per  bottle,  and  it  will 
be  readily  perceived  that  we  paid  our  devotions  pretty 
regularly  to  the  bottle,  when  I  state  that  during  the 
passage  we  paid  him  for  rum  alone,  upwards  of  two 
hundred  dollars.  We  could  not  have  lived  without  it, 
and  were  forced  to  "  keep  our  spirits  up  by  pouring  spir 
its  down."  If  our  Captain  were  tired  of  us,  before  he 
took  away  the  stove,  we  now  gave  him  double  cause  to 
be  so,  as  we  kept  up  a  continual  singing,  and  noise  un 
til  ten  and  eleven  o'clock,  every  night,  and  very  often 
to  a  much  later  hour.  He  at  length  became  afraid  of 
us,  and  had  his  guard  doubled,  by  application  to  some 
of  the  other  vessels.  He  afterwards  made  another  ap 
plication,  and  recovered  his  temper,  when  strengthen 
ed  by  a  couple  of  army  officers.  Alarmed  as  he  was, 
he  wrould  have  been  much  more  so,  had  he  known  that 
we  had  actually  agreed  to  take  the  vessel  as  soon  as 
we  got  out  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  had  sea-room. 
Our  plan  was  to  be  put  in  operation  in  the  night,  but 
unfortunately  for  us  we  got  into  the  ocean  early  in  the 
day,  and  by  night  we  were  inside  of  the  Halifax  coast- 


56 

ers.  We  had  two  midshipmen  and  one  lieutenant  of 
our  navy  on  board,  and  had  so  far  succeded  as  to  have 
made  a  passage,  by  which  we  could  at  pleasure  enter  the 
apartment  where  the  guard  slept,  and  their  arms  being 
stacked  on  the  floor,  could  have  seized  them  when  we 
pleased.  Two  of  the  stoutest  of  us  were  to  go  on 
deck,  but  two  being  allowed  up  at  a  time,  and  the  stairs 
of  the  hatches  were  to  be  filled  with  men,  ready  to  rush 
up  as  soon  as  they  should  have  seized  the  guard — some 
were  to  fasten  down  the  hatches  on  the  sailors,  and 
others  to  take  care  of  the  cabin  and  the  officers.  We 
would  then  have  compelled  the  sailors  to  work  the  ves 
sel  into  New-York,  but  when  night  came  on,  our  lieu 
tenant  discouraged  the  whole  undertaking  by  inform 
ing  us  that  we  were  then  inside  of  the  Halifax  coasters, 
and  that  should  we  be  so  fortunate  as  to  escape  from 
the  fleet,  we  would  be  re-taken  by  them,  and  if  so,  it 
was  as  likely  as  not,  we  should  all  be  hung  to  the  yard 
arms,  without  further  comment.  Having  no  particu 
lar  propensity  for  swinging,  we  abandoned  the  project, 
and  landed  on  the  following  day  at  Halifax. 

We  were  marched  up  the  street,  under  guard  like  a 
parcel  of  felons,  to  the  office  of  the  Provost  Major, 
where  we  received  paroles  to  Prescott,  a  village  across 
the  bay  from  Halifax,  and  were  marched  back  in  the 
same  order  to  the  boat ;  cheered  as  we  went  along  by 
the  expression  of  sympathy,  from  the  by-standers — ah  ! 
poor  devils  !  exclaimed  a  poor  old  Irish  woman  ;  in  the 
fulness  of  her  heart  and  the  roughness  of  her  phraseo 
logy,  she  expressed  her  pity  for  our  desolate  situation, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  she  felt  for  us  from  her  soul,  for 
her  manner  indicated  sincerity  and  her  eye  glistened 
with  a  tear.  We  were  put  on  board  with  our  little 
store  of  baggage,  and  in  the  morning  landed  at  Pres 
cott,  our  place  of  parole. 


57 

About  the  time,  I  went  on  shore  I  was  taken  very  ill, 
indeed  I  had  been  in  a  very  weak  state  of  health,  ever 
since  I  had  had  the  fever,  and  my  treatment  from  that 
time  was  not  such  as  to  strengthen  or  improve  it.  I 
remained  unwell  for  several  days,  and  wrote  to  Halifax 
for  medical  aid,  asking-  even  as  a  favor,  to  go  to  the 
hospital,  and  received  neither  medical  assistance,  nor 
answer  of  any  kind.  I  took  a  fancy  to  a  drink  of  cider, 
and  accordingly  went  to  a  tavern,  where  I  got  some 
very  good  ;  it  appeared  to  do  me  good,  and  I  continued 
the  operation,  and  recovered,  without  other  medicine. 

Halifax  is  the  capital  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  was  found 
ed  in  the  year  seventeen  hundred  and  forty-nine  with  a 
view  to  secure  the  British  settlements  from  the  French 
and  Indians.  It  was  divided  into  thirty-five  squares, 
each  containing  sixteen  lots  of  forty  by  sixty  feet. — 
They  have  one  established  church,  and  one  meeting 
house.  The  city  is  surrounded  by  picketings,  and 
guarded  by  forts  on  the  outside,  and  has  since  been  ve 
ry  strongly  fortified.  Along  the  Chebucto,  south  of 
the  town,  are  buildings  and  fish  flakes,  for  a  distance 
of  at  least  two  miles,  if  not  more,  and  on  the  north  of 
the  river  they  extend  for  a  mile  and  upwards.  The  plan 
was  originally  contrived,  and  afterwards  considerably 
improved  by  the  Earl  of  Halifax.  In  March  of  the 
year  seventeen  hundred  and  forty-nine,  was  first  issued 
the  proclamation  for  the  establishment  of  this  settle 
ment,  and  so  favorable  were  the  terms  offered  to  set 
tlers,  and  so  strong  the  desire  of  emigration  amongst 
the  people,  that  but  two  months  afterwards,  that  is  to 
say,  in  the  month  of  May,  persons  had  offered  them 
selves,  to  the  number  of  three  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  fifty.  They  accordingly  embarked,  and  after  a 
prosperous  voyage,  established  themselves  in  the  bay 


58 

of  Chebucto,  where  they  founded  their  city,  calling  it 
Halifax,  in  honor  of  their  patron. 

So  actively  and  with  such  spirit  did  they  enter  into 
operations,  that  before  the  end  of  October  three  hun 
dred  comfortable  wooden,  houses  were  built,  and  as  ma 
ny  more  during  the  winter.  The  British  government, 
too,  evinced  great  liberality  in  the  manner,  in  which 
for  six  successive  years,  they  granted  them  large  sup 
plies  of  money,  for  instance,  in  the  year  seventeen  hun 
dred  and  forty-nine,  they  voted  them  4o,ooo/  for  their 
expences  ;  in  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty  they  granted 
them  757,582  17^  yi  1-4;  in  seventeen  hundred  and 
fifty-one,  753,927  14^  4^7;  in  seventeen  hundred  and 
fifty-two,  a  sum  of  761,492  19^  ^d  1-4;  in  seventeen 
hundred  and  fifty-three,  794,615  125  4^7;  in  seventeen 
hundred  and  fifty-four,  755,447  2s ;  and  in  seventeen 
hundred  and  fifty-five,  749,418  js  8^7.  This  city  has 
at  length  attained  a  degree  of  splendor,  that  bids  fair 
to  rival  the  first  cities  in  the  United  States,  for  which 
it  has  been  equally  indebted  to  the  late  war,  to  the 
great  increase  of  population  from  the  influx  of  exiled 
loyalists,  and  to  the  fostering  care  of  Great-Britain. 
The  harbour  is  perfectly  sheltered  from  all  winds,  be 
ing  at  the  distance  of  twelve  miles  from  the  sea,  and 
is  so  spacious  that  one  thousand  ships  may  ride  in 
it  without  the  least  danger.  Upon  it  are  many  com 
modious  wharves  which  have  from  twelve  to  eighteen 
feet  of  water  at  all  tides  ;  the  streets  are  regularly  laid 
out,  and  cross  each  other  at  right  angles,  the  whole  ris 
ing  gradually  upon  the  side  of  a  hill,  whose  top  is  regu 
larly  and  very  strongly  fortified.  Many  considerable 
rnerchants  reside  in  this  place,  and  are  possessed  of 
shipping  to  the  amount  of  several  thousand  tons,  em 
ployed  in  a  flourishing  trade  with  Europe,  and  the 
West  Indies.  There  is  a  small,  but  excellent  careen- 


59 

ing  yard  for  ships  of  the  royal  navy,  that  may  come  in 
to  refit,  and  take  water,  fuel,  or  provisions  on  board,  in 
their  passage  to,  and  from  the  West  Indies.  It  is  well 
provided  with  naval  stores;  and  ships  of  the  line  are 
hove  down  and  repaired  with  the  greatest  ease  and 
safety.  Several  batteries  of  heavy  cannon,  command 
the  harbour,  particularly,  those  upon  George's  island, 
which  being  very  steep  and  high,  and  situated  in  mid 
channel,  is  well  calculated  to  annoy  vessels,  in  any  direc 
tion.  Above  the  careening  yard,  which  is  at  the  upper 
end  of  the  town,  there  is  a  large  basin,  or  piece  of  wa 
ter,  communicating  with  the  harbor  below,  is  nearly 
twenty  miles  in  circumference,  and  capable  of  contain 
ing  the  whole  navy  of  England  ;  it  is  entirely  sheltered 
from  all  winds,  and  has  but  one  narrow  entrance,  which 
leads  into  the  harbor.  There  are  many  detached  set 
tlements,  formed  by  the  loyalists,  along  the  basin  ;  the 
lands  at  a  small  distance  from  the  water,  being  general 
ly  supposed  to  be  better  than  those  near  Halifax.  An 
elegant  building  is  erected  near  the  town,  for  the  con 
valescence  of  the  navy  ;  but  the  healthiness  of  the  cli 
mate  has,  as  yet,  prevented  many  persons  from  be 
coming  patients;  scarcely  any  ships  in  the  world,  being 
so  free  from  complaints  of  every  kind  in  regard  to 
health,  as  those  that  are  employed  upon  this  station. 
There  is  a  good  light-house,  standing  upon  a  small  ele 
vation,  just  off  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  which  is 
visible,  either  by  night  or  day,  from  a  distance  of  six  or 
seven  leagues.  Halifax  is  seven  hundred  and  eighty- 
nine  miles  north-east  of  New-York.  In  winter,  the  cli 
mate  is  very  severe,  and  much  addicted  to  fogs — but  to 
return  to  our  narrative. 

We  remained  in  this  place  until  after  the  declara 
tion  of  peace,  and  boarded  during  the  time  we  remain 
ed,  at  the  different  taverns,  at  an  expence  of  from  five 


6o 

to  seven  dollars  a  week.  Our  fare,  too,  was  very  poor; 
breakfast  consisted  of  bread  and  butter  with  some 
roasted  herrings,  and  water,  colored  with  coffee;  for 
dinner  they  gave  us  generally  a  leg  of  mutton  stuffed, 
and  roasted,  and  plum-pudding — sometimes  they  would 
regale  us  with  a  roasted  goose,  but  on  Fridays  we  re 
gularly  sat  down  to  codfish  and  potatoes;  our  suppers 
were  light,  consisting  of  bread  slightly  marked  with 
butter,  and  a  cup  of  tea,  no  doubt,  through  fear  of  in 
juring  our  digestion.  The  naval  officers  were  paroled 
to  a  small  village  some  miles  distant,  as  they  did  not 
like  to  have  them  so  near  the  water. 

In  some  parts  of  Upper  Canada,  through  which  I  pass 
ed,  the  people  did  not  appear  to  pay  the  least  respect 
to  the  Sabbath  day.  I  have  frequently  seen  women 
churning  butter  and  baking  bread,  and  men  chopping 
wood,  and  attending  to  divers  other  employments,  the 
same  as  on  week-days.  They  have  a  substitute  for 
coffee,  of  which  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot,  more  than  once 
to  partake,  viz.:  dry  crusts  of  bread  put  on  the  fire  and 
burnt  black,  then  pounded  fine,  and  boiling  water  be 
ing  poured  upon  it,  it  is  suffered  to  rest  for  a  while 
when  it  is  pronounced  fit  for  use.  Provisions  of  all 
sorts  were  very  scarce  and  dear.  In  the  markets  of 
Halifax,  beef  was  upwards  of  twenty  cents  a  pound, 
turkey  was  fifty  cents  per  lb.,  wheaten  meal,  though  sour, 
was  twenty-four  dollars  per  barrel,  and  I  saw  them 
manufacturing  flour  in  a  mill  near  Halifax,  that  was  so 
much  spoiled,  and  so  firmly  cemented  together,  that 
they  had  to  dig  it  out  of  the  barrel  with  a  heavy  spade, 
it  was  then  placed  under  a  sort  of  pounder,  and  after  it 
had  been  pounded  and  bolted,  through  a  cross-bolt, 
the  lumps  were  collected,  and  after  having  undergone 
a  repitition  of  the  process,  the  whole  was  mixed  with 
fresh  wheat,  and  re-bolted,  until  made  fine  enough  to 


6i 

pass  through,  when  it  was  packed  and  sent  to  market. 
Major  Galloway  and  I  paid  two  dollars,  at  a  tavern  in 
Halifax,  ior  a  couple  of  glasses  of  brandy  each,  and 
some  oysters,  which  were  so  bad,  we  were  forced  to 
leave  them  untouched. 

There  were  but  few  men  in  the  village  in  which  we 
were  paroled,  some  followed,  fishing,  some  the  sea,  and 
others  the  army.  The  soil  of  the  country  around  ap 
peared  to  be  very  poor,  the  country  abounded  with 
small  lakes  ;  the  timber  was  principally  scrubby  white 
pine,  not  growing  thicker  than  from  six  to  twelve  inch 
es  in  circumference.  This  was  the  wood  used  for  fir 
ing  by  the  inhabitants,  each  of  whom  cut  and  hauled  as 
much  as  he  pleased  without  interruption.  The  corn 
stalks  which  I  saw  in  some  gardens,  and  this  was  the  only 
place  in  which  I  saw  any,  were  no  larger  than  a  person's 
finger. 

About  this  time  the  news  of  the  defeat -of 'the  British 
before  New-Orleans,  reached  HalifaXfand  disappoint 
ment  and  chagrin  were  depicted  in  the  countenance- 
of  every  individual,  with  the  exception  of  the  Ameris 
can  prisoners,  whose  joy  was  almost  without  bounds. 
The  merchants  who  had  been  speculating,  and  many 
of  them  had  embarked  largely  in  purchasing  the  sol 
diers  rights  of  plunder  at  New-Orleans,  of  cotton,  su 
gar,  tobacco,  &c.,  were  actually  thunderstruck.  Many 
of  them  upon  hearing  the  news,  collected  all  the  cash 
they  could  lay  their  hands  upon,  and  disposed  of  as 
much  merchandise  as  possible,  and  cleared  out,  well 
knowing  that  they  had  not  the  slightest  chance  of  any 
thing  but  absolute  poverty,  if  they  remained.  Every 
day  while  I  remained  there,  I  witnessed  sales  of  their 
goods  at  auction  in  the  streets. 

When  the  news  of  the  victory  reached  us  at  Pres- 
cott,  the  officers  assembled  at  what  was  called  "Jack- 


62 

sons  Tavern"  where  Major  Galloway,  Captain  Crown- 
inshield,  myself,  and  several  others  boarded,  and  spent 
the  afternoon  in  jollity  and  mirth.  "  Hail  Columbia," 
I  suppose  was  never  sung  with  more  heart-felt  grati 
tude,  than  we  sang  it  that  afternoon  ;  joining  hands,  form 
ing  a  circle  and  walking  round,  we  sang  with  all  our 
force,  disregardful  entirely  of  consequences  ;  but  we 
were  permitted  to  enjoy  ourselves  without  molestation, 
as  there  was  not  a  British  officer  or  soldier  then  resi 
dent  in  the  village.  Captain  Crowninshield  had  been 
detained  in  imprisonment  for  something  like  a  year  af 
ter  he  had  been  legally  exchanged  ;  immediately  after 
the  news  of  peace  had  reached  them,  Captain  Cushet, 
the  provost  Major,  sent  a  line  to  him,  with  directions 
to  have  his  baggage  put  on  board  of  a  certain  vessel 
then  lying  in  the  harbor,  bound  for  the  United  States, 
and  then  to  repair  to  his  office  in  Halifax  ;  the  Captain 
did  so,  and  on  appearing  in  the  office,  the  Major  asked 
him  if  he  did  not  feel  rejoiced  at  the  prospect  of  return 
ing  to  his  family.  Crowninshield  replied  that  he  did  ; 
but  added  at  the  same  time,  "  without  considering  my 
self  at  all  indebted  to  you,  Captain  Cushet."  Cushet 
answered,  that  thanks  were  not  only  due  to  himself  but 
to  several  others,  gentlemen  resident  in  Halifax,  who 
had  interested  themselves  considerably,  to  procure  his 
liberation — to  this  our  friend  replied,  that  these  of  his 
friends  in  Halifax,  who  had  interested  themselves  for 
him,  he  did  indeed  feel  deeply  indebted,  but  to  Cap 
tain  Cushet  he  again  asserted  he  did  not  conceive  him 
self  at  all  indebted,  as  he  had  it  in  his  power  to  prove 
without  leaving  the  city,  in  black  and  white,  that  it  was 
through  his  means  alone  he  had  been  so  long  illegally 
detained  in  captivity;  and  he  had  yet  to  learn  that  cru 
elty  and  injustice  had  power  to  bind  the  object  upon 
whom  they  had  been  practised,  to  feelings  of  regard  or 


63 

consideration  for  his  oppressor.  This  charge  was  de 
nied  most  positively  and  as  positively  and  firmly  repeat 
ed,  when  at  length,  Cushet  completely  losing  all  com 
mand  of  his  temper,  the  following  dialogue  ensued  : 
"You  shall  not  go  home  even  now,  sir."  "Thank  you, 
sir."  "  Go  on  board  and  remove  your  baggage,  and  re 
turn  to  your  place  of  parole."  "  Thank  you,  sir."  "I 
will  send  you  to  Mellville  prison,  sir."  "Thank  you, 
sir."  "Begone  out  of  my  office,  sir."  "Thank  you, 
sir."  Captain  Crowninshield  then  left  the  office  and 
related  the  circumstance  at  dinner,  when  he  was  warm 
ly  greeted  by  all  for  his  firmness,  and  they  actually  car 
ried  him  on  their  shoulders  round  the  room.  He  then 
called  for  wine,  to  treat  his  fellow  officers  of  whom  there 
were  about  a  dozen,  then  in  the  house  ;  we  devoted  our 
selves  to  merriment  and  had  a  jovial  time  of  it;  several 
other  paroled  American  officers  gathered  in,  and  before 
we  had  retired  to  rest  ourselves,  we  had  consigned  to 
rest  upwards  of  forty  bottles  of  good  wine,  thus  cele 
brating  our  country's  glory,  and  our  enemies'  disgrace, 
under  their  very  noses.  The  next  morning  the  Cap 
tain  made  it  known  that  he  expected  a  guard  to  be 
sent  to  conduct  him  to  Melville  prison  ;  several  of  the 
officers,  unknown  to  him,  met  together  and  formed  a 
resolution  to  attempt  his  rescue,  and  if  possible  prevent 
his  going  to  jail ;  he  however  came  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  matter  by  some  means,  and  begged  of  them  to  de 
sist  from  their  purpose,  as  it  was  impossibe  to  prevent 
his  going  to  jail  in  an  enemy's  country  ;  that  they  would 
only  risk  their  own  lives,  without  doing  him  any  service  ; 
I  saw  him  plead  with  them,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  so  over 
come  was  he  by  his  feelings,  before  he  could  persuade 
them  to  give  up  their  project — he,  however,  at  length 
succeeded  ;  he  was  so  universal  a  favorite  amongst  the 
officers,  that  I  firmly  believe,  had  they  after  reflection, 


64 

found  the  undertaking  feasible,  they  would  never  have 
consented  to  abandon  the  enterprise. 

Captain  C.  was  from  Salem,  in  the  state  of  Massachu 
setts  ;  he  had  formerly  been  the  captain  of  a  vessel,  which 
occupation  he  had  followed  for  nearly  twenty  years ; 
and  was  well  acquainted  with  the  merchants  of  Halifax. 
For  some  time  previous  to  the  war,  he  had  not  gone  to 
sea,  and  would  not  have  again  resumed  the  service,  had 
he  not  had  two  vessels  laden  with  goods,  captured  and 
run  into  British  ports,  where  they  were  condemned  un 
der  pretence  of  having  smuggled  goods  aboard.  One 
of  the  vessels  thus  captured  had  a  cargo  of  West  In 
dia  goods,  worth  ten  thousand  dollars.  Having  still 
something  of  his  property  left,  he  fitted  up  a  small  ves 
sel  with  a  swivel  gun  and  a  good  crew,  and  went  out 
privateering;  he  had  married  a  young  wife  about  a  year 
before  he  went  to  sea.  In  his  first  trip  he  was  fortun 
ate,  taking  several  British  vessels  ;  when  they  proved 
to  be  of  small  value,  the  valuable  part  of  the  cargo  was 
taken  out,  and  she  was  scuttled  ;  her  crew  would  then 
be  paroled  and  put  on  shore — he  made,  however,  two 
very  valuable  prizes,  one  of  which  sold  for  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  which  served  in  part  to  remunerate 
him  for  previous  losses. 

Upon  his  scond  trip,  having  taken  and  scuttled  two 
or  three  vessels,  the  crews  of  which  not  having  an  op 
portunity  of  being  put  ashore,  were  still  on  board,  he 
was  on  the  look-out  for  an  old  West  Indiaman,  bound 
for  Halifax,  having  a  valuable  cargo,  and  which  was 
hourly  expected,  and  when  within  a  short  distance 
of  the  Halifax  coast,  came  in  sight  of  an  old  seventy- 
four  ;  this  he  mistook  for  his  expected  prize,  and  accord 
ingly  made  sail  for  her,  and  it  being  late  in  the  even 
ing,  and  a  thick  fog,  he  had  got  alongside  before  he  dis 
covered  his  error.  Those  on  board  the  seventy-four, 


65 

with  a  view  of  correcting  his  mistake,  shoved  out  their 
guns,  and  gave  him  a  broadside  ;  by  dint  of  several  times 
shifting  his  course,  he  however,  made  his  escape,  and 
ran  on  until  he  thought  himself  safe,  when  he  lay  too, 
fearful  that  if  he  proceeded  he  would  get  out  of  the 
track  of  the  West  Indiaman  ;  unfortunately  for  him 
however,  his  antagonist  had  shaped  her  course  in  the 
same  manner,  and  was  alongside  before  day-break  of 
the  following  morning,  when  before  he  could  get  away, 
she  poured  into  him  a  broadside,  which  shot  off  his 
main-mast,  and  otherwise  so  far  disabled  him  as  to  pre 
clude  all  possibility  of  escape — he  consequently  struck 
his  flag,  and  was  fired  into  even  after  that  process. 
When  taken,  he  had  twice  as  many  prisoners,  as  he 
had  of  his  own  crew — they  were  all  taken  to  Halifax, 
where  they  were  detained  until  after  the  peace. 

According  to  Captain  Crowninshield's  expectations, 
in  one  or  two  days  after  he  had  returned  to  his  place 
of  parole,  Captain  Cushet  came  over  to  pay  us,  what 
we  called  in  derision,  our  starvation  money,  more  pro 
perly,  subsistence  money,  being  twenty  dollars  per 
month,  in  lieu  of  rations,  which  was  nothing  like  suffi 
cient  to  support  us  ;  he  had  a  guard  with  him,  and  told 
Crowninshield  that  he  must  now  set  out  for  Melville 
prison.  In  conversation  which  they  held  about  the 
matter,  and  in  reply  to  the  question  of  why  he  should 
be  sent  to  prison,  the  captain  was  informed  that  it  was 
not  for  anything  he  had  said,  but  solely  for  the  tone  in 
which  it  had  been  spoken  ;  he  was  then  taken  off,  and 
carried  to  Melville,  where  they  kept  him  for  about  ten 
days,  when  he  was  set  at  liberty  and  sent  home  to  Sa 
lem.  In  Melville  prison  there  were  confined  from 
twelve  to  fourteen  hundred  Americans,  who  were  treat 
ed  with  as  much  barbarity,  as  though  the  worst  of  con 
victs,  some  of  them  being  half  naked.  John  Hughes, 


66 

one  of  my  men  who  was  confined  there,  got  an  oppor 
tunity  of  writing  to  me,  stating  how  much  he  suffered 
from  want  of  clothes  and  tobacco,  at  the  time  I  receiv 
ed  his  letter,  I  had  but  two  dollars  and  three  shirts 
which,  however,  I  divided  with  him,  giving  him  one  dol 
lar,  and  one  shirt  and  a  great  coat,  which  proved  to  him 
of  considerable  service. 

Melville  prison  is  two  hundred  feet  in  length,  and 
fifty  broad,  it  is  two  stories  high,  the  upper  one  being 
for  officers,  and  for  the  infirmary  and  dispensary,  while 
the  lower  part  is  divided  into  two  prisons,  one  of  which 
was  occupied  by  French,  and  the  other  by  Americans. 
The  prison  yard  covers  a  space  of  ground  of  about  one 
acre  in  extent,  the  whole  island  containing  little  more 
than  five  acres ;  it  is  connected  on  the  south  side  with 
the  main  land,  by  a  bridge.  In  a  journal  which  has 
fallen  into  my  hands,  I  find  a  very  minute  account 
of  the  prison  on  Melville  Island  and  the  treatment  of 
the  unfortunate  men  confined  there,  which  I  copy 
in  order  to  show  my  readers,  that  I  am  not  the  only 
one  who  speaks  hastily  of  our  English  captives.  With  the 
language  or  sentiments  of  the  writer  I  have  nothing  to 
do,  and  merely  copy  it  as  confirming  my  own  state 
ment,  as  to  the  hardships  suffered  by  the  inmates  of  the 
prison,  and  as  giving  a  more  minute  account  of  its  dis 
cipline  and  regulations,  than  I  was  enabled  to  procure 
from  enquiry.  The  writer  of  the  journal  referred  to, 
went  from  the  Port  of  Salem,  as  assistant  surgeon,  on 
board  a  privateer,  in  December  of  1812 — the  title  page 
of  the  work  is  lost,  and  I  am  consequently  unable  to 
give  his  name. 

"  As  to  the  inside  of  the  prison  at  Melville,  if  the  A- 
merican  reader  expects  to  hear  it  represented  as  a  place 
resembling  the  large  prisons  for  criminals  in  the  United 
States,  such  as  those  at  Boston,  New  York,  or  Phila- 


67 

delphia,  he  will  be  sadly  disappointed.  Some  of  these 
prisons  are  as  clean,  and  nearly  as  comfortable  as  some 
of  the  monasteries  and  convents  on  the  continent  of 
Europe.  Our  new  prisons  in  the  United  States,  reflect 
great  honor  on  the  nation,  they  speak  loudly  that  we 
are  a  considerate  and  humane  people;  whereas  the  pri 
son  at  Halifax,  erected  solely  for  the  safe  keeping  of 
prisoners  of  war,  resembles  a  horse  stable  with  stalls 
or  stancheons  for  separating  the  cattle  from  each  other. 
It  is  to  a  contrivance  of  this  sort  that  they  attach  the 
cords  that  support  those  canvass  bags  or  cradles,  call 
ed  hammocks.  Four  tiers  of  these  hanging  nets 
were  made  to  swing  one  above  the  other,  between  these 
stalls  or  stancheons.  To  those  unused  to  such  lofty 
sleeping  berths,  they  were  rather  unpleasant  situa 
tions  for  repose.  But  use  makes  every  thing  easy. 

The  first  time  that  I  was  shut  up  for  the  night  in  this 
prison,  it  distressed  me  too  much  to  close  my  eyes. 
Its  closeness  and  smell  were,  in  a  degree,  disagreeable, 
but  this  was  trifling  to  what  I  experienced  afterwards 
in  another  place.  The  general  hum  and  confused  noise 
from  almost  every  hammock,  was  at  first  very  distress 
ing.  Some  would  be  lamenting  their  hard  fate  at  being 
shut  up  like  negro  slaves  in  a  guinea  ship,  or  like  fo\vls 
in  a  hen-coop,  for  no  crime,  but  for  fighting  the  bat 
tles  of  their  country.  Some  were  cursing  and  execra 
ting  their  oppressors  ;  others  late  at  night  were  relating 
their  adventures  to  a  new  prisoner,  others  lamenting 
their  aberrations  from  rectitude,  and  disobedience  to 
parents,  and  head-strong  wilfulness,  that  drove  them  to 
sea  contrary  to  their  parents'  wish  ;  while  others  of  the 
younger  class  were  sobbing  out  their  lamentations  at 
the  thoughts  of  what  their  mothers  and  sisters  suffered, 
after  knowing  of  their  imprisonment.  Not  unfrequent- 
ly  the  whole  night  was  spent  in  that  way,  and  when  about 


68 

day-break,  the  weary  prisoner  fell  into  a  dose,  he  was 
waked  from  his  slumber  by  the  grinding  noise  of  the 
locks,  and  the  unbarring  of  the  doors,  with  the  cry  of 
"turn  out — all  out,"  when  each  man  took  down  his 
hammock,  and  lashed  it  up  and  slung  it  on  his  back, 
and  was  ready  to  answer  to  the  roll  call  of  the  turnkey. 
If  any,  through  natural  heaviness,  or  indisposition,  was 
dilatory,  he  was  sure  to  feel  the  bayonet  of  the  soldier, 
who  appeared  to  us  to  have  a  natural  antipathy  to  a  sai 
lor,  and  from  what  I  observed,  I  believe  that  in  general 
little  or  no  love  is  lost  between  them. 

This  prison  is  swept  out  twice  a  week  by  the  prison 
ers.  The  task  is  performed  by  the  respective  messes 
in  turns.  When  the  prison  is  washed,  the  prisoners 
are  kept  out  until  it  is  perfectly  dry.  This  in  the  wet 
seasons,  and  the  severity  of  winter  is  sometimes  very 
distressing  and  dangerous  to  health  ;  for  there  is  no  re 
tiring  place  for  shelter,  it  is  like  a  stable  where  the 
cattle  are  either  under  cover  or  exposed  to  the  weather, 
be  it  ever  so  inclement. 

When  we  arrived  here  in  May  1813,  there  were 
about  nine  hundred  prisoners,  but  many  had  died  by  the 
severity  of  the  winter,  and  the  quantity  of  fuel  allowed 
by  the  British  government  was  insufficient  to  convey 
warmth  through  the  prison.  The  men  were  cruelly 
harassed  by  the  custom  of  mustering  and  parading 
them  in  the  severest  cold,  and  even  in  snow  storms. 
The  agent,  Miller,  might  have  alleviated  the  sufferings 
of  our  people,  had  he  been  so  disposed,  without  relax 
ation  of  duty.  But  he  as  well  as  the  turnkey,  named 
Grant,  seemed  to  take  delight  in  tormenting  the  Ameri 
cans.  This  man  would  often  keep  the  prisoners  out 
for  many  hours,  in  the  severest  weather,  when  the  mer 
cury  was  ten  and  fifteen  degrees  below  O  ;  under  a  pre 
text  that  the  prison  had  been  washed,  and  was  not  suf- 


69 

ficiently  dry  for  their  reception,  when,  in  fact  every 
drop  of  water  used,  was  in  a  moment,  ice.  People  in 
the  Southern  states,  and  the  inhabitants  of  England 
and  Ireland,  can  form  no  adequate  idea  of  the  frightful 
climate  of  Nova  Scotia.  The  description  of  the  suffer 
ings  of  our  poor  fellows,  the  past  winter,  was  enough  to 
make  one's  heart  ache,  and  to  rouse  our  indignation 
against  the  agents  in  this  business. 

Our  people  are  sensible  to  kind  treatment,  and 
are  ready  to  acknowledge  humane  and  considerate  con 
duct  towards  themselves  or  towards  their  companions, 
but  they  are  resentful  in  proportion  as  they  are  grate 
ful.  They  speak  very  general  of  the  conduct  of  Mil 
ler,  the  agent,  and  Grant,  the  turnkey,  with  disgust  and 
resentment.  A  complaint  was  made  to  him  of  the  bad 
ness  of  the  beef  served  out  to  the  prisoners,  upon  which 
he  collected  them  together,  mounted  the  stair  case 
and  began  a  most  passionate  harangue,  declaring  that 

the  beef  was  good  enough  and  a  d d  deal  better  than 

they  had  in  their  own  country  ;  and  if  they  did  not  eat  it, 
they  should  have  none.  He  then  went  on  as  follows: — 

Hundreds  of  you,  d d  scoundrels,  have  been  to  me 

begging  and  pleading,  that  I  would  interpose  my  influ 
ence  that  you  might  be  the  first  to  be  exchanged,  to  re 
turn  home  to  your  families,  who  were  starving  in  your 
absence,  and  now  you  have  the  impudence  to  tell  me 
to  my  face,  that  the  king's  beef  is  not  good  enough  for 
your  dainty  stomachs.  Why  some  of  that  there  beef 
is  good  enough  for  me  to  eat.  You  are  a  set  of  mean 
rascals,  you  beg  of  an  enemy  the  favors  which  your 
own  government  won't  grant  you.  You  complain  of 
ill  treatment,  when  you  never  had  better  in  your  lives. 
Had  you  been  in  a  French  prison  and  fed  on  horse 
beef,  you  would  have  some  grounds  of  complaint,  but 
here  in  his  Brittannic  majesty's  royal  prison  you  have  ev- 


erything  that  is  right  and  proper  for  persons  taken 
fighting  against  his  crown  and  dignity. — There  is  a 
surgeon  here  for  you,  if  you  are  sick,  and  physic  to 
take  if  you  are  sick,  and  a  hospital  to  go  to  into  the 
bargain,  and  if  you  die,  there  are  boards  enough,  (point 
ing  to  a  pile  of  lumber  in  the  yard)  for  to  make  your 
coffins,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land  to  bury 
you  in,  and  if  you  are  not  satisfied  with  all  this,  you 

may  die  and  be  d d  !     Having  finished  this  eloquent 

harangue,  orator  Miller  descended  from  his  rostrum, 
and  strutted  out  of  the  prison  yard,  accompanied  with 
hisses  from  some  of  the  prisoners. 

On  a  re-examination,  however,  of  the  "  king's  beef," 
some  pieces  were  found  too  much  tainted  for  a  dog  to 
eat,  and  the  prisoners  threw  it  over  the  pickets.  After 
this  the  supply  of  wholesome  meat  was  such  as  it  ought 
be,  full  good  enough  for  Mr.  Miller  himself  to  eat,  and 
some  of  the  very  best  pieces  good  enough  for  Mr. 
Grant,  the  turnkey. 

In  all  this  business  of  provision  for  prisoners  of  war, 
one  thing  ought  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  which 
may  be  offered  as  an  extenuation  of  crime  alleged  against 
the  British  agents  for  prisoners;  and  that  is,  that  the 
American  solder  and  sailor  live  infinitely  better  in  A- 
merica,  than  the  same  class  of  people  do  in  Great  Bri 
tain  and  Ireland.  Generally  speaking,  an  American 
eats  three  times  the  quantity  of  animal  food  that  falls 
to  the  share  of  the  same  class  of  people  in  England, 
Holland,  Germany,  Denmark  or  Sweden. — He  sleeps 
more  comfortably,  and  lives  in  greater  plenty  of  fish, 
flesh,  vegetables,  and  spirituous  liquors.  Add  to  this, 
his  freedom  is  in  a  manner  unbounded.  He  speaks  his 
mind  to  any  man.  If  he  thinks  he  is  wronged,  he  seeks 
redress  with  confidence;  if  he  is  insulted  he  resents  it, 
and  if  you  should  venture  to  strike  him,  he  never  will 


rest  quiet  under  the  dishonor;  yet  you  seldom  hear  of 
quarrels  ending  in  murder;  the  dagger  and  pistol  are 
weapons  in  a  manner  unknown  ;  the  fist  a  la  mode  de 
John  Bull,  is  commonly  the  ultimatum  of  a  Yankee's 
rage. 

We  often  hear  the  British  if  they  are  unsuccessful, 
lamenting  the  war  between  England  and  America  ;  they 
call  it  an  unhappy  strife  between  brethren,  and  they 
attribute  this  "  unnatural  war  "  to  a  French  influence, 
and  their  friends  in  New  England,  who  are  denomina 
ted  tories,  use  the  same  language  ;  they  say  that  all  the 
odium  of  the  war  ought  to  fall  on  our  administration,  and 
their  wicked  seducers,  the  French  ;  and  yet  you  will  find 
that  both  in  England  and  at  Halifax,  the  French  meet 
with  better  treatment  than  their  dear  brothers  the  A- 
mericans. 

We  found  that  there  were  about  two  hundred  French 
prisoners  in  Nova  Scotia.  Some  had  been  there  ever 
since  eighteen  hundred  and  three  ;  few  of  them  were 
confined  in  prison.  The  chief  of  them  lived  in  or  near 
the  town  of  Halifax,  working  for  the  inhabitants,  or 
teaching  dancing  or  fencing,  or  their  own  language. 
Some  were  employed  as  butchers  and  cooks,  others  as 
nurses  in  the  hospital,  and  they  were  every  where  fa 
vored  for  their  complaisance,  obedience,  and  good  hu 
mor.  They  had  the  character  of  behaving  better  to 
wards  the  British  officers  and  inhabitants  than  the 
Americans,  and  I  believe,  with  reason  ;  for  our  men 
seem  to  take  delight  in  plaguing,  embarrassingand  alarm 
ing  those  who  were  set  over  them.  A  Frenchman  al 
ways  tried  to  please,  while  many  Americans  seemed  to 
take  an  equal  delight  in  letting  their  masters  know, 
that  they  longed  to  be  at  liberty  to  fight  them  again. 
I  confess  I  do  not  wonder,  that  the  submissive,  smiling 
Frenchman  made  more  friends  at  Halifax,  than  the  or- 


72 

dinary  run  of  American  seaman,  who  seemed  too  often 
to  look  and  speak,  as  if  they  longed  to  try  again  the 
tug  of  war,  with  John  Bull. 

The  daily  allowance  of  the  British  government  to  our 
prisoners,  is  one  pound  of  bread,  one  pound  of  beef, 
and  one  gill  of  peas.  Over  and  above  this,  we  receiv 
ed  from  the  American  agent,  a  sufficiency  of  coffee, 
sugar,  potatoes  and  tobacco.  The  first  may  be  called 
the  bare  necessaries  of  life,  but  the  latter  contribute 
much  to  its  comfortable  enjoyment.  Whether  the 
-  British  government  ought  not  to  have  found  the  whole 
I  am  not  prepared  to  determine,  but  certainly  before 
this  addition  from  our  own  agent,  our  men  complained 
bitterly. 

We  were  one  day  not  a  little  shocked  by  the  arrival  of  a 
number  of  American  soldiers  who  were  entrapped  arid 
taken  with  Col.  Boerstler,  in  Upper  Canada.  They  exhi 
bited  a  picture  of  misery,  woe  and  despair.  Their  mise 
rable  condition  called  forth  our  sympathy  and  compas 
sion,  and  I  may  add,  excited  our  resentment  against  the 
authors  of  their  distress.  These  unfortunate  landsmen 
had  never  been  used  to  rough  it  like  sailors,  but  had 
lived  the  easy  life  of  farmers  and  mechanics.  Some 
of  them  had  never  experienced  the  hardships  of  a  sol 
dier's  life,  but  were  raw,  inexperienced  militiamen. 
They  were  taken  at  some  creek,  between  Fort  George 
and  Little  York,  by  the  British  and  their  allies,  the  In 
dians,  who  stripped  them  of  most  of  their  cloathing,  and 
then  wore  them  down  by  long  and  harassing  marches  : 
first  to  Montreal  and  then  to  Quebec,  and  soon  after 
crowded  them  on  board  transports  like  negroes,  in  a 
guinea  ship,  when  some  suffered  death,  and  others 
merely  escaped  it.  It  appears  from  their  account,  and 
from  every  other  account,  that  the  treatment  of  these 
poor  fellows  at  their  capture  and  on  their  march,  and 


73 

more  especially  on  board  the  transports  from  Quebec 
to  Halifax,  was  barbarous  in  the  extreme,  and  highly 
disgraceful  to  the  British  name  and  nation. 

We  have  asserted  uniformly  that  the  prisoners  who 
came  from  Quebec  to  Halifax,  and  Boston,  down  the 
St.  Lawrence,  were  treated  and  provided  for  in  a  man 
ner  little  above  brutes.  Colonel  Scott,  now  Major 
Gen.  Scott,  came  by  that  route  from  Quebec  to  Boston, 
and  it  is  well-known  that  he  complained,  that  there  was 
neither  accommodations,  provisions  or  anything  on 
board  the  ship,  proper  for  a  gentleman.  He  spoke  of 
the  whole  treatment  he  received,  with  deep  disgust  and 
pointed  resentment.  If  an  officer  of  his  rank  and  ac 
complishments  had  so  much  reason  for  complaint,  we 
may  easily  conceive  what  the  private  soldier  must  en 
dure. 

We  paid  every  attention  in  our  power  to  these  poor 
fellows,  whose  emaciated  appearance  and  dejection 
gave  us  reason  to  expect  that  an  end  would  soon  be  put 
to  their  sufferings  by  death.  They,  however,  recruited 
fast,  and  we  were  soon  convinced  that  they  were  redu 
ced  to  the  condition  we  saw  them  in,  absolutely  for 
want  of  food.  The  account  which  these  soldiers  gave 
of  their  hardships,  was  enough  to  fill  with  rage  and  re 
sentment  the  heart  of  a  saint.  Four  men  were  not  al 
lowed  more  provisions  than  what  was  needful  for  one. 
They  assured  us  that  if  they  had  not  secretly  come  at 
some  bags  of  ship  bread,  unknown  to  the  officers  of  the 
transport,  they  must  have  perished  for  want  of  food. — 
We  cannot  pass  over  one  anecdote  ;  some  fish  were 
caught  by  our  own  people  on  the  passage,  in  common 
with  the  crew,  but  they  were  compelled  to  deliver  them 
all  to  the  captain  of  the  ship,  who  withheld  them  from 
the  American  prisoners.  Some  of  the  prisoners  had  a 
little  money,  and  the  captain  of  the  transport  was  mean 


74 

enough  to  take  a  dollar  for  a  single  cod-fish,  from  men 
in  their  situation.  This  fact  has  appeared  in  several 
Boston  papers,  with  the  names  of  the  persons  concern 
ed,  and  has  never  been  contradicted  or  doubted.  We 
give  this  as  the  common  report,  and  as  the  Boston 
news-papers  circulated  freely  through  Nova  Scotia  and 
Canada,  we  infer  that  had  the  story  been  void  of  truth 
it  would  have  been  contradicted. 

About  the  month  of  August,  Halifax  was  alarmed, 
by  a  report  that  the  prisoners  in  Mellville  jail,  had  at 
tempted  to  break  prison  with  a  view  of  seizing  upon 
the  town — the  report  was  in  some  measure  correct,  as 
an  attempt  of  the  kind  had  been  made,  but  failed,  in 
consequence  of  the  imprudence  of  some  of  the  prison 
ers,  who  having  mined  under  the  wall,  crept  out  in  day 
light  to  see  how  it  looked  from  the  outside,  and  being 
discovered  by  the  guard  were  fired  upon.  Whether 
there  was  just  cause  for  the  extraordinary  excitement 
created  by  this  affair,  or  any  real  necessity  for  the  ve 
ry  formidable  precautions  which  were  taken,  remains  a 
matter  of  speculation  ;  be  that  as  it  may,  however,  or 
ders  were  issued  that  all  loyal  citizens  should  hold 
themselves  in  readiness  at  a  moment's  warning,  to  re 
pel  the  attack  of  about  one  thousand  unarmed  prison 
ers  ;  a  company  of  artillery  with  two  pieces  of  cannon 
were  placed  upon  an  eminence  south  of  the  prison, 
cannons  were  also  placed  in  different  directions  so  as 
to  play  upon  the  prison,  and  a  line  of  sentries  were 
placed  at  regular  distances,  all  the  way  into  the  town 
of  Halifax,  the  people  had  been  actually  made  to  be 
lieve  that  they  had  sworn  to  murder  every  man,  woman 
and  child  in  the  town. 

The  weather  was  at  this  time  very  severe ;  I  have 
seen  many  of  the  American  prisoners,  with  their  ears 
frostbitten,  and  many  of  the  negroes,  who  were  carried 


75 

away  from  their  masters,  in  the  United  States,  actual 
ly  perished  with  the  cold.  The  Indians  were  wrapped 
up  in  blankets,  feet  and  legs,  and  also  appeared  pretty 
well  preserved  with  smoke.  They  came  into  the  town 
of  Halifax  about  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  every  day,  appa 
rently  half  frozen,  and  would  mope  about  the  streets 
from  store  to  store,  in  search  of  empty  whiskey  barrels  ; 
when  they  found  one  they  would  take  it  to  the  pump, 
pour  water  in  it,  and  after  rinsing  it  well,  would  drink 
the  water;  they  were  the  most  wretched  and  pitiable 
objects  I  ever  saw. 

We  got  through  the  winter  as  well  as  we  could,  and 
near  the  last  of  February,  our  ears  were  blessed  with 
the  news  of  peace,  and  we  immediately  commenced 
making  preparations  for  our  return  home.  According 
to  the  articles  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  every  officer  was 
bound  to  pay  his  debts  before  he  could  return  home, 
and  Colonel  Cushet  made  a  loan,  for  all  the  volunteer 
officers  who  were  there.  The  only  place  at  which  he 
could  raise  money,  was  from  a  merchant  tailor,  who 
bound  him  to  take  as  much  cloathing  as  would  amount 
to  the  sum  wanted  in  cash,  at  his  own  price,  paying 
the  whole  to  a  certain  house  in  Boston  in  ten  days, 
with  ten  per  cent  for  the  use  of  it.  Having  procured 
cash,  we  settled  our  affairs,  laid  in  sea  stores,  and  went 
aboard — here  again  the  weather  seemed  to  have  con 
spired  against  us,  and  we  were,  in  consequence  of  con 
trary  winds,  detained  ten  days  on  board  ;  at  the  expira 
tion  of  which  time  we  landed  at  Salem,  where  we  \vere 
warmly  received  by  an  old  friend,  Capt.  Crowninshield, 
who  had  landed  a  few  days  previous.  He  was  accom 
panied  by  several  gentlemen  of  distinction,  who  were 
awaiting  our  landing  on  the  shore.  We  proceeded 
with  them  to  a  tavern,  where  we  remained  until  even 
ing,  and  then,  with  a  number  of  the  citizens,  reuaired 


76 

by  invitation  to  the  house  of  Captain  Crowninshield, 
where  we  were  entertained  in  the  most  hospitable 
manner. 

Next  morning  we  took  the  stage  for  Boston,  and  ar 
rived  there  in  time  for  dinner.  We  then  called  upon 
the  paymaster,  to  have  our  accounts  settled;  he  told 
us  he  had  no  money,  but  he  would  give  us  due  bills, 
and  we  could  sell  them  to  the  brokers,  which  he  did, 
informing  us  at  the  same  time  where  we  could  get  them 
cashed ;  we  were  compelled,  however,  to  allow  a  dis 
count  of  twenty  per  cent.;  as  we  had  to  pay  our  bor 
rowed  money,  we  had  no  other  resource — some  were 
forced  to  allow  twenty-five  per  cent.  I  took  some  Phi 
ladelphia  paper,  and  when  I  went  to  pay  my  stage 
fare,  they  deducted  five  per  cent  more — thus,  calcula 
ting  the  ten  per  cent  which  we  paid  at  Halifax  for  bor 
rowed  money,  twenty  per  cent  discount  for  cash  at 
Boston,  and  five  per  cent  deducted  by  the  stage  pro 
prietor,  made  in  all,  an  allowance  of  thirty  five  per 
cent  which  we  were  compelled  to  pay.  Having  at 
length  settled  our  affairs,  we  proceeded  homeward, 
passing  through  New-York  and  Philadelphia,  in  each 
of  which  places  we  remained  a  couple  of  days.  We 
were  compelled  to  hire  horses  at  Harrisburg,  as  the 
stage  went  no  further,  and  when  we  arrived  at  Carlisle, 
we  were  detained  by  the  inhabitants,  to  partake  of  a 
dinner  prepared  for  us  at  the  Carlisle  tavern — the  next 
day  I  arrived  home  in  Adams  County. 


DESCRIPTION 


UPPER    CANADA. 

THE  province  of  Upper  Canada  extends  along 
the  northern  bank  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  the  lakes 
Ontario  and  Erie,  and  the  water  communication  from 
lake  Superior,  about  seven  hundred  miles,  and  is  five 
hundred  miles  wide,  according  to  an  imaginary  line 
that  divides  it  from  New  Britain  on  the  north.  The 
line  that  divides  it  from  the  lower  province,  begins  in 
lat.  45,  at  lake  Francisco,  and  takes  a  due  north  course 
to  the  Outtaways  river,  then  up  that  river  a  north  west 
direction  to  lake  Tomiscauting,  then  due  north  to  the 
line  of  New  Britain. 

The  upper  province  is  divided  from  the  United 
States  by  a  line  commencing  some  distance  above  the 
St.  Regis  village  of  Indians,  situate  about  seventy-five 
miles  below  Ogdensburgh,  and  running  through  the 
centre  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  where  lake  Ontario  be 
gins,  thence  through  the  centre  of  it  to  the  outlet  of 
lake  Erie,  then  through  the  centre  of  the  outlet  to  the 
beginning  of  the  said  lake,  then  through  the  middle  of 
it  to  the  head,  and  so  onward,  passing  through  lakes 
St.  Clair,  Huron,  Superior,  and  lake  of  the  Woods  ;  it 
then  takes  a  south-westerly  course  to  Red  Lake,  near 
the  headwaters  of  the  river  Mississippi. 


73 

In  the  upper  province  there  are  no  mountains,  and 
but  few  hills  of  any  considerable  height ;  the  country, 
however,  is  not  of  a  clear  level,  but  affords  sufficient 
eminences  to  render  it  agreeable  to  the  eye,  and  con 
venient  for  the  building  of  water-works,  &c. 

The  sudden  rise  of  ground  dividing  the  waters  of 
lake  Erie  from  lake  Ontario,  towers  in  some  places 
five  hundred  feet  high,  and  almost  perpendicular;  in 
general,  however,  the  height  does  not  exceed  two  hun 
dred  feet,  and  the  ascent  is  very  gradual,  with  natural 
offsets  about  five  hundred  yards  wide,  upon  which  are 
situate  plantations,  and  from  which,  especially  those  on 
the  top,  are  most  extensive  and  beautiful  prospects  ; 
the  eye  rests  with  admiration  on  the  fertile  plains  be 
low,  and  lake  Ontario  stands  entirely  exposed  to  ob 
servation.  Upon  the  top  of  this  eminence,  the  coun 
try  is  level,  fertile  and  extremely  beautiful  ;  nearly  all 
the  waters  on  the  south  side  of  the  slope  run  into  lake 
Erie,  though  there  are  but  few  that  find  their  way 
through,  affording  excellent  situations  for  the  erection 
of  mills  or  other  buildings  requiring  water  power. 

The  soil  of  the  province  of  Upper  Canada  is  exceed 
ingly  good  in  every  part,  yet  it  is  much  the  best  in  the 
upper  part,  west  south  west  of  the  head  of  the  bay  Ouan- 
tie,  around  the  north  shore  and  head  of  lake  Ontario, 
and  the  west  side  of  Grand  River,  in  the  London  Dis 
trict.  The  lower  part  of  the  province  is  sand  and  clay 
mixed;  from  the  head  of  the  bay  Quantie,  to  the  head 
of  lake  Ontario,  it  is  altogether  a  black  light,  rich 
mould  in  most  places,  seven  inches  deep,  after  which 
it  is  brown  clay.  On  the  Grand  River,  or  Indian  Land, 
and  in  the  London  District,  the  soil  is  sand,  brown 
loam  and  clay. 

The  timber  of  the  lower  part  of  the  province  is  chiefly 
hemlock,  birch  and  beech  ;  that  of  the  middle  part,  beech, 


79 

sugar  maple  and  white  pine.  On  the  west  of  the  Grand 
River,  the  chief  of  the  timber  is  white  pine,  elm,  bass, 
black  walnut,  and  the  different  oaks,  chestnut  and  the 
like — Indeed  in  this  part  of  the  province,  may  be  found 
nearly  all  the  varieties  of  the  United  States  ;  also,  some 
of  the  trees  of  the  Balm  of  Gilead  ;  one  of  a  majestic 
appearance  stands  upon  the  main  road,  about  twenty- 
five  miles  west  of  Niagara.  In  the  lower  part  of  the 
province,  there  is  but  little  of  any  kind  of  wild  fruit, 
but  in  the  middle  part  there  are  several  sorts,  particu 
larly  whortleberries  and  rice.  In  the  western  part  there 
is  a  great  variety  of  wild  fruits,  viz.:  cranberries,  rasp 
berries,  grapes,  blackberries,  and  wild  potatoes ;  also, 
strawberries  and  plumbs  of  an  excellent  quality,  and  a 
great  quantity  of  the  very  best  crab  apples,  which  are 
preserved  by  the  inhabitants  with  the  molasses  of 
pumpkins. 

Considerable  quantities  of  wheat  are  raised  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  province  ;  and  in  the  middle  part, 
wheat,  rye,  oats,  peas,  flax,  hemp  and  corn.  In  the 
western  part,  the  product  is  wheat,  which  thrives  much 
better  here  than  in  any  other  part ;  rye,  oats  and  corn, 
also  come  to  great  perfection,  as  likewise  buck-wheat. 
All  kinds  of  roots  and  vegetables  flourish  well  in  any 
part  of  the  province,  but  especially  in  the  west. 

All  kinds  of  birds  found  in  the  United  States  are 
plenty;  here  is  also  found  a  kind  of  bird,  having  the 
same  motion  and  voice  as  the  parakite,  so  plenty  in  the 
state  of  Kentucky — it  differs,  however,  in  colour,  being 
grey,  and  is  called  by  some,  the  frolic.  Wild  ducks 
are  very  plenty  in  all  the  lakes,  as  are  also  geese  in  all 
the  lakes  north  of  the  settlements. 

There  are  seven  lakes  of  considerable  size,  in  the 
inhabited  part  of  the  province,  and  many  parts  of  the 
wilderness.  Lake  Ontario  is  about  two  hundred  and 


So 

thirty  miles  long,  from  north-east  to  south-west,  and 
eighty  wide  about  the  middle,  being  of  an  oval  form  ; 
it  is  exceeding  deep  and  in  most  places  appears  to 
be  without  bottom,  as  there  has  been  great  length  of 
cord  let  down  without  finding  any.  The  water  is  very 
clear  and  cool  at  all  times  of  the  year,  having  the  ap 
pearance  of  a  large  spring.  This  lake  never  freezes, 
except  near  the  shore,  where  it  is  shallow,  nor  does  it 
freeze  even  there,  except  in  very  severe  weather,  and 
then  only  for  a  very  few  weeks. 

The  little  lake,  or  Burlington  bay,  lies  to  the  south 
west  of  lake  Ontario,  and  is  divided  from  it  by  a  cause 
way  five  miles  long,  and  in  many  places  three  hundred 
yards  wide  ;  the  surface  of  this  causeway  is  completely 
level,  of  a  light  sand,  matted  over  with  grass,  and 
beautifully  decorated  with  groves  of  timber,  chiefly 
oak,  of  a  middle  size,  but  of  an  endless  variety  of  cu 
rious  forms  ;  some  six  feet  in  circumference  at  the  butt, 
yet  not  more  than  twelve  feet  high,  with  extensive 
limbs,  crooking  and  twining  in  all  directions.  A  great 
number  of  these  trees  are  entirely  encircled  with 
grape  vines,  and  produce  great  quanties  of  grapes,  of 
an  excellent  quality ;  this  lake  is  about  twenty  miles  in 
circumference,  and  generally  shallow. 

Near  the  head  of  bay  Quantie,  on  the  north  side  is 
a  lake  of  considerable  extent,  named  Hog  lake,  as  also 
several  others  not  far  distant.  About  twenty  miles 
west  of  the  head  of  bay  Quantie,  and  fifteen  miles 
north  of  the  shore  of  lake  Ontario,  is  situated  what  is 
called  Rice  lake,  in  consequence  of  the  large  quanti 
ties  of  rice  which  grows  in  it.  This  lake  is  from  three 
to  nine  miles  wide,  and  thirty-six  in  length,  though 
not  very  deep.  Its  course  is  from  east  to  west ;  the 
west  end  is  not  far  from  lake  Simcoe.  At  the  east 
end  there  is  a  fall  of  eighteen  feet  perpendicular,  in 


Si 

the  form  of  a  half  moon.  Below  the  falls,  begins  what 
is  called  the  river  Trent,  which  is  tolerably  large,  and 
affords  many  falls  fit  for  water  works.  It  empties  into 
the  bay  Quantie  at  the  head.  This  lake  communicates 
with  a  chain  of  small  lakes,  called  the  Shallow  lakes, 
which  also  afford  rice,  and  extends  near  the  north  end 
of  lake  Simcoe.  Lake  Simcoe  lies  still  west  of  Rice 
lake,  and  is  something  larger ;  it  communicates  with  lake 
Huron  to  the  south-west,  by  the  river  Severn. 

Lake  Erie  lies  thirty  miles  distant  from  lake  Ontario, 
and  is  three  hundred  miles  long,  and  from  twenty  to 
forty  miles  wide.  This  lake  is  elevated  about  three 
hundred  feet  higher  than  lake  Ontario,  which*  causes 
the  Falls  of  Niagara.  The  water,  though  pure,  is  not 
deep,  nor  is  so  safe  for  navigation  as  lake  Ontario. 

The  lake  St.  Clair  is  situate  in  a  north-westerly 
course  from  lake  Erie  ;  still  further  to  the  north-west 
is  lake  Huron,  in  lat.  42  ;  it  is  one  hundred  miles  in  cir 
cumference.  From  lake  Huron  to  the  straits  of  St. 
Mary,  it  is  seventy  miles  to  lake  Superior,  which  is 
fifteen  hundred  miles  in  circumference,  and  lies  be 
tween  forty-six  and  fifty  degrees  N.  latitude,  and  be 
tween  eighty-four  and  ninety  degrees  west  longitude 
from  London.  The  island  Royal,  situate  near  the  mid 
dle  of  this  lake  is  one  hundred  miles  long,  and  forty 
wide. 

This  province  also  contains  many  fine  streams  of  wa 
ter,  the  principal  of  which  are  the  following : 

The  Ottaways,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  Grand 
River,  is  a  large  stream,  rising  out  of  lake  Tomiscaut- 
ing,  and  running  a  south-easterly  course,  and  empties 
itself  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  above  and  below  Montreal. 
The  spring  floods  in  the  river  rise  in  the  month  of  June, 
or  thereabout,  and  are  often  very  destructive  to  the 
young  crops.  There  is  agreat  variety  of  fish  in  this  river, 


The  river  Cananocqua  is  also  a  considerable  stream, 
and  empties  into  the  St.  Laurence  a  few  miles  below 
Kingston. 

There  is  a  stream  of  some  note,  called  Myre's 
creek,  which  is  said  to  abound  with  fish  ;  the  water  is 
remarkably  pure  and  clear;  it  empties  into  the  bay 
Quantie  about  fifty  miles  north  of  Kingston. 

The  river  Trent  also  empties  into  the  head  of  bay 
Quantie  from  Rice  lake,  is  large,  and  contains  a  vari 
ety  of  fish  ;  many  hundred  barrels  of  salmon  are  caught 
in  this  stream  every  fall. 

Duffer's  creek  is  also  a  fine  stream,  emptying  into 
lake  Ontario,  thirtr  miles  north-east  of  York. 

The  river  Rush  empties  into  the  lake  eighteen  miles 
below  York,  and  is  navigable  for  boats  twenty  miles  up. 

The  river  Credit,  one  of  the  best  rivers  in  Canada 
for  salmon,  is  tolerably  large,  and  empties  into  lake 
Ontario  about  fifteen  miles  above  York. 

The  Sixteen  mile  creek  empties  into  the  lake  a  few 
miles  further  up,  is  large,  and  also  well  stocked  with 
fish  ;  the  Twelve  mile  creek  empties  itself  about  five 
miles  further  up,  and  is  a  beautiful  stream. 

The  Chippewa  river  runs  into  the  Niagara  river,  three 
miles  above  the  falls ;  what  is  called  the  Twenty  mile 
creek,  has  its  rise  near  the  head  of  the  Chippewa,  and 
empties  into  lake  Ontario  sixteen  miles  west  of  Ni 
agara. 

The  Fifteen,  Sixteen,  Seventeen,  Thirty  and  Forty 
miles  creeks  all  run  into  lake  Ontario,  rushing  over  the 
slope  affording  fine  falls. 

The  Grand  river  is  a  considerably  large  stream,  of 
exceedingly  clear  water,  rising  from  lake  St.  Clie,  and 
is  navigable  for  vessels  of  a  considerable  size,  for  fifty 
miles  from  its  mouth ;  it  empties  into  lake  Erie,  sixty 
miles  from  the  east  end,  and  contains  many  fine  fish. 


83 

There  is  also  the  Thames,  a  large  and  beautiful  ri 
ver,  rising  near  the  head  ot  Grand  river,  and  emptying 
about  thirty  miles  above  Sandwich  into  the  head  of 
lake  Erie;  there  are,  also,  a  number  of  fine  streams 
running  into  lake  Erie,  such  as  Big  creek,  passing 
through  Houghton  and  Middleton  township,  and  Ket 
tle  and  Otter  creeks,  in  Middlesex  county. 

There  are  not  many  villages  in  the  province  of  Up 
per  Canada,  of  much  note,  the  inhabitants  finding  their 
greatest  advantage  in  agriculture,  the  land  being  very 
cheap  and  fertile.  The  following  are  a  few  of  the  most 
notable. 

CORNWALL  is  situate  about  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  down  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  and  is  hand 
some,  but  small. 

PRESCOTT  is  situate  seventy  miles  below,  stand 
ing  opposite  to  Ogdensburg,  on  the  United  States 
side;  it  is  an  inconsiderable  place,  and  there  is  a  fort 
and  a  garrison. 

BROCK VILLE  lies  twelve  miles  higher  up  the  the  ri 
ver,  and  is  handsomely  situated,  containing  about 
eighty  houses. 

KINGSTON  stands  a  few  miles  below  the  head  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  opposite  to  Wolf  island,  which  is  the 
means  of  forming  a  safe  and  commodious  harbour.  It 
contains  about  one  hundred  aud  fifty  houses,  a  court 
house,  jail,  and  two  houses  for  public  worship.  The 
fort  in  this  place  is  temporary,  and  the  cannon  small. 
It  is  a  place  of  considerable  commerical  business,  and 
is  rapidly  increasing. 

YORK  is  situate  one  hundred  and  seventy  miles 
south-west  of  Kingston,  on  the  northern  shore  of  lake 
Ontario,  and  is  somewhat  larger.  It  is  laid  out  very 
much  in  the  manner  of  Philadelphia,  the  streets  inter 
secting  each  other  at  right  angles.  It  is  the  seat  of 


84 

government,  and  contains  some  fine  buildings,  among 
which  are  a  court-house,  council  house,  and  king's 
store  house.  The  harbour  is  safe  and  beautiful,  af 
fording  every  convenience  to  shipping,  and  is  so  situ 
ate,  that  while  the  water  of  the  main  lake  is  tossed  like 
the  waves  of  the  sea,  it  remains  perfectly  smooth  and 
calm. 

NIAGARA  is  situate  on  the  south  side  of  the  lake, 
almost  opposite  York,  at  the  point  of  land  formed  by 
the  junction  of  the  outlets  of  lakes  Erie  and  Ontario. 
It  is  a  beautiful,  prospective  situation,  being  surround 
ed  on  two  sides  by  water,  the  lake  on  the  north,  and 
the  Niagara  river  on  the  east,  which  affords  a  fine  har 
bour.  There  are  many  squares  of  ground  in  this  vil 
lage  adorned  with  almost  every  species  of  rare  fruit. 
It  is  a  place  of  considerable  business,  and  is  inhabited 
by  an  industrious  and  intelligent  people. 

OUEENSTOWN  lies  seven  miles  further  up  the 
Niagara.  It  is  a  small  but  handsome  village  ;  the  most 
of  the  honses  are  built  of  stone  or  brick,  and  are  large 
and  well  finished.  Here  also  is  done  considerable  bu 
siness,  and  there  are  some  very  wealthy  residents. 

CHIPPEWA  is  situate  ten  miles  above  Queens- 
ton,  and  two  above  the  falls  of  Niagara,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Chippewa  Creek.  It  contains  some  handsome 
buildings. 

FORT  ERIE.  '  There  is  a  small  village  here  of  con 
siderable  beauty. — The  inhabitants  carry  on  a  consider 
able  traffic  from  the  lake. 

TURKEY  POINT  is  situated  about  sixty  miles 
south-west  of  Fort  Erie,  on  the  Lake  shore,  in  the  dis 
trict  of  London,  a  little  north  of  Long  Point.  It  stands 
in  a  beautiful  situation,  is  surrounded  by  a  fertile  coun 
try,  and  has  a  handsome  court-house  and  jail. 


85 

PORT  TALBERT  lies  sixty-four  miles  farther  to 
the  south-west,  on  the  lake  shore ;  a  town  was  laid  out 
here  in  1807,  and  bids  fair  for  a  considerable  place.  It 
has  a  fine  harbor  for  shipping. 

MALDEN,  this  fort  and  village  is  situate  on  the 
south-west  end  of  lake  Erie,  fourteen  miles  south  of 
Detroit.  It  is  a  pleasant,  though  not  a  large  place, 
and  the  fort  is  a  strong-  one.  On  the  twenty-seventh 
of  September,  1813,  this  fort  was  burned  by  the  Brit 
ish,  on  the  approach  of  Harrison,  previous  to  the  bat 
tle  of  Moravian  Town. 

SANDWICH  is  situate  still  farther  up  the  river, 
opposite  Detroit,  and  is  a  handsome  village  of  consid 
erable  age,  inhabited  chiefly  by  French. 

There  are  several  other  villages  in  the  province  not 
immediately  situate  upon  the  water,  which  are  of  con 
siderable  size  and  beaut)%  but  those  already  named  are 
the  principal. 

The  province  of  Upper  Canada  is  divided  into  eight 
districts,  twenty-four  counties,  and  one  hundred  and 
fifty-six  townships,  generally  about  twelve  miles  square, 
these  are  subdivided  into  townships,  and  each  town 
ship  into  fourteen  concessions,  the  whole  of  which 
make  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty-four. 
These  concessions  are  divided  into  twenty-four  lots  of 
two  hundred  acres  each,  the  whole  of  which  amounts 
to  thirty-two  thousand,  four  hundred  and  sixteen, 
which  number  multiplied  by  two  hundred,  will  produce 
ten  million,  four  hundred  and  eighty-three  thousand, 
two  hundred,  the  number  of  acres  surveyed  in  the  pro 
vince,  besides  considerable  called  broken  fronts,  not 
yet  surveyed,  but  granted  to  those  who  owned  land  in 
the  rear  thereof.  Between  every  concession  there  are 
four  roods  left  for  the  public  roads,  and  also  between 
every  fourth  lot,  which  is  one  quarter  of  a  mile  wide. 


86 

Amongst  the  curiosities  of  the  province  of  Upper 
Canada,  the  Falls  of  Niagara  stand  conspicuous  ;  a  de 
scription  of  them,  therefore,  cannot  fail  to  be  highly 
interesting : — 

"  In  order  to  have  a  proper  view  of  the  Falls  and  the 
adjacent  parts,  I  will  suppose  a  person  to  be  sailing  in 
a  little  boat,  out  of  Lake  Ontario,  up  the  Niagara  riv 
er,  or  outlet  of  Lake  Erie.  Soon  after  you  leave  the 
Lake,  you  pass  the  village  of  Niagara  on  the  right  hand, 
and  Niagara  old  fort  on  the  United  States  side.  A  little 
farther  up  you  pass  Fort  George  on  the  right — here 
the  water  is  deep  and  smooth.  You  still  sail  on  a  due 
south  course,  the  water  being  smooth  and  the  banks 
about  sixteen  feet  high,  and  in  most  places  perpendic 
ular  for  seven  miles.  Here  you  come  to  Oueenston 
on  the  right  hand,  and  Lewiston  on  the  left.  This 
place  is  called  the  "landing,"  for  here  all  the  lading  of 
vessels  destined  for  the  country,  each  side  of  Lake 
Erie  and  the  Michigan  territory  are  taken  out,  and  con 
veyed  up  the  mountain  or  slope,  nine  miles,  to  the  still 
water,  two  miles  above  the  Fall.  The  ascent  of  this 
slope,  though  three  hundred  feet  high,  is  very  easy. 
The  river  here  is  half  a  mile  wide,  and  a  little  above 
there  is  a  whirl  of  considerable  depth,  though  not  dan 
gerous.  After  you  pass  this  place  three  hundred  yards, 
you  enter  the  dismal  chime,  and  instead  of  the  lively 
prospect  of  the  sailing  of  ships,  with  flying  colors, 
fruitful  fields,  and  pleasant  landscapes,  you  are  all  at 
once  buried  in  a  grave,  of  at  least  three  hundred  feet 
deep.  Although  it  is  open  in  the  top,  should  you  look 
up,  the  sight  is  truly  gloomy — the  banks  are  perpendic 
ular,  and  in  some  places  more  than  perpendicular, 
abounding  with  craggy  rocks,  hanging  over  your  head 
in  a  frightful  manner;  near  the  surface,  there  are  to  be 
seen  flat  rocks,  projecting  towards  each  other  in  a  hor- 


87 

izontal  position.  You  still  row  on  a  south  direction, 
with  little  variation  ;  the  water  is  considerably  rapid, 
and  the  banks  have  nearly  the  same  appearance,  until 
within  about  a  mile  of  the  cataract,  where  the  banks 
are  not  quite  so  high  ;  but  still  all  is  gloomy,  as  you  are 
buried  from  the  sight  of  the  land  of  the  living,  and 
must  be  filled  with  haunted  thoughts  of  five  hundred 
murdered  dead,*  that  in  one  fatal  hour  plunged  into 
the  mighty  grave,  in  which  you  now  are. 

As  you  proceed,  the  water  becomes  very  rapid,  and 
at  length  the  mighty  Falls  appear  in  full,  tremendous 
view,  and  fill  the  ear  with  dismal  roar.  It  is  eight 
miles  from  Oueenston.  When  you  arrive  within  three 
hundred  yards  of  the  cataract,  you  must  stop.  Here 
the  bed  of  the  river  widens,  and  is  not  sunk  more  than 
half  of  the  distance  below  the  surface,  as  it  was  at  your 
first  entrance  of  the  chime.  A  view  of  the  horizon  is 
more  extensive.  In  sitting  in.  your  little  bark  the  above 
distance,  with  your  face  to  the  south,  before  you  flows 
the  main  body  of  water,  and  plunges  over  with  a  tre 
mendous  dash.  About  sixty  yards  of  the  middle  of  this 
cataract  is  much  deeper  than  the  rest,  in  consequence 
of  a  chime  sunk  in  the  rock.  The  water  has  a  blueish 
green  appearance.  On  your  left  hand  comes  the  oth 
er  part  of  the  river,  not  so  large  by  a  sixth  part,  and 
falls  over  also. 

This  river  is  divided  into  two  separate  pitches,  each 
four  hundred  yards  in  width.  This  division  is  made  by 
a  small  island,  crowding  up  to  the  verge  of  the  rock, 
near  the  middle.  It  extends  half  a  mile  up  the  stream, 
and  terminates  in  a  point,  where  the  water  divides  to 
the  right  and  left. 

*Down  this  dreadful  chime,  a  number  of  American  soldiers 
were  driven  headlong  by  the  Indians,  after  they  had  surrendered 
themselves  prisoners  of  war  to  the  British,  on  the  thirteenth  of 
October,  eighteen  hundred  and  twelve. 


88 

The  form  of  the  cataract  bends  inward,  or  is  nearly 
a  semicircle.  By  the  striking  force  of  the  falling  wa 
ter  upon  that  below,  wind  is  pressed  under,  which  ris 
es  below  in  a  foaming  manner,  though  not  to  any  heighth 
or  violence. 

The  lime  stone  rock  on  the  United  States  side  over 
which  the  water  flows,  shelves  considerably,  and  leaves 
a  large  cavity  between  the  base  and  falling  column  of 
water,  and,  were  it  not  for  the  depression  of  air,  a  per 
son  might  walk  some  distance  in  it  without  being  wet. 

The  mighty  dash  of  so  great  a  body  of  water  on  the 
bed  below,  raises  a  fog  or  small  rain,  which  mounts  up 
two  thousand  feet,  in  which,  when  the  sun  shines,  may 
be  seen  a  variety  of  beautiful  rain-bows.  This  fog 
spreads  to  a  considerable  distance,  and  proves  a  fecun 
dating  moisture  for  the  circumjacent  woods. and  fields, 
the  superior  freshness  and  luxury  of  which  are  strik 
ingly  perceptible.  This  fog  can  be  seen  in  clear  wea 
ther  for  forty  miles,  particularly  by  persons  on  the  lakes, 
and  often  serves  as  a  guide  for  sailing. 

In  the  winter  this  rain  falling  upon  the  neighboring 
trees,  congeals  in  a  thousand  shapes,  forming  a  roman 
tic  and  pleasing  appearance. 

About  half  a  mile  above  the  falls,  what  are  called 
the  rapids  begin,  and  descend  fifty  feet  to  the  cataract. 
The  draft  of  this  rapid  is  so  great,  that  it  often  reaches 
ducks  and  geese,  when  they  appear  to  be  half  a  mile 
out  of  danger,  and  when  once  under  the  influence  of 
the  impetuous  current,  they  cannot  get  on  the  wing 
again.  Indians,  with  their  canoes,  have  been  known 
to  be  irresistably  carried  down  the  rapid,  and  have  dis 
appeared  forever. 

Above  the  rapid,  the  river  spreads  to  nearly  three 
miles  wide,  and  is  shallow,  with  several  small  islands. 

The  river  now  has  a  south-east  course  to  Grand  Is- 


89 

land,  nine  miles  wide,  and  then  south  to  lake  Erie, 
where  it  is  only  a  mile  wide.  This  is  twenty  miles  from 
the  falls  by  water,  from  this  place  you  may  sail  more 
than  a  thousand  miles,  if  you  wish,  without  encountering 
any  more  falls. 

If  my  reader  pleases,  I  will  invite  him  back  again  to 
view  and  contemplate  a  little  more,  this  awful  scene. 
On  both  sides  of  the  rapids,  above  the  falls,  the  banks 
of  the  river  are  quite  low;  and  there  are  many  conve 
nient  situations  for  water  works.  Several  are  now 
erected,  yet  there  is  room  for  more.  With  a  small  ex 
pense  a  large  quantity  of  water  can  be  brought  in  use 
to  do  great  execution. 

The  perpendicular  pitch  of  this  vast  body  of  water 
is  one  hundred  and  forty-four  feet,  add  to  this  fifty  feet 
which  the  water  descends,  above  the  falls,  and  seven 
ty  feet  below,  and  we  find  that  the  river  descends  in  eight 
miles  and  a  half,  two  hundred  and  sixty-four  feet. 
Some  who  have  never  seen  this  river  suppose  it  to  be 
much  less  than  it  is,  and  others  suppose  it  to  be  larger  ; 
indeed  it  is  hard  for  any  one  to  judge  with  propriety, 
that  has  seen  it,  as  there  are  but  eight  miles  in  the 
whole  length  of  the  river,  between  the  two  lakes, 
where  any  current  can  be  seen,  and  that  is  very  rapid. 

For  the  contemplation  of  the  curious,  who  may,  per 
haps,  never  see  these  falls,  I  have  made  the  following 
calculation,  from  wrhich  they  may  form  some  tolerable 
correct  idea  of  the  quantity  of  water  that  falls  over 
this  cataract. 

Say  that  each  of  the  spaces,  over  which  the  water 
pitches,  is  four  hundred  yards  wide,  or  twelve  hundred 
feet ;  the  most  shallow  one  of  these,  or  that  on  the  Uni 
ted  States'  side,  is  three  feet  deep  on  the  verge  of  the 
rock,  over  which  it  falls.  Now  if  we  multiply  its  depth 
three  feet,  into  its  width,  twelve  hundred  feet,  we  have 


go 

thirty-six  hundred  cubic,  or  solid  feet  of  water,  on  the 
verge  of  the  precipice.  As  there  are  sixty-two  pounds 
avoirdupoise,  in  a  cubic  or  solid  foot  of  water,  and  a 
little  more,  which  we  leave  out  to  avoid  fractions,  so  if 
we  multiply  sixty-two,  the  pounds  in  a  square  foot  of 
water,  by  thirty-six  hundred,  the  number  of  feet  of  wa 
ter  on  the  verge,  we  have,  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  thousand,  two  pounds  of  water,  on  the  verge  of 
the  precipice.  But  when  we  consider  the  laws  of  grav 
ity  respecting  spouting  fluids  and  falling  bodies,  we 
shall  find  the  water  of  this  cataract,  receives  a  vast 
additional  weight  by  the  time  it  comes  to  the  lowest 
point  of  fall.  In  order  therefore  to  find  this  addition 
al  weight,  we  must  note  the  following  things  : — "  Hea 
vy  bodies  near  the  surface  of  the  earth,  fall  one  foot 
the  first  quarter  of  a  second,  three  feet  the  second, 
five  the  third,  and  seven  feet  in  the  fourth  quarter ;  that 
is  sixteen  feet  in  the  first  second.  Let  go  three  bullets 
together,  stop  the  first  at  one  second,  and  it  will  have 
fallen  sixteen  feet;  stop  the  next  at  the  end  of  the  se 
cond  second,  it  will  have  fallen,  four  times  sixteen,  or  six 
ty-four  feet;  stop  the  last  at  the  end  of  the  third  second 
and  the  distance  it  will  have  fallen  will  be  nine  times 
sixteen  or  one  hundred  and  forty-four  feet,  and  so  on. 
Now  the  momentum  or  force  with  which  a  falling  body 
strikes,  is  equal  to  its  weight  multiplied  by  its  velocity," 
and  in  order  to  find  which  we  must  multiply  the  per 
pendicular  space  fallen  through  by  sixty-four,  and  the 
square  root  of  the  product  is  the  velocity  required. — 
See  Pikes  Arithmetic,  pages  362  and  j. 

From  calculation,  \ve  find  that  the  water  of  the  cat 
aract  is  three  seconds  descending  the  one  hundred  and 
forty-four  feet,  and  that  the  velocity  acquired  in  that 
time  and  distance  to  be  ninety-six,  which,  if  we  multi 
ply  into  two  hundred  and  twenty-three  thousand,  the 


number  of  pounds  of  water  on  the  top  of  the  rock,  we 
find  that  twenty-one  millions  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  thousand  two  hundred  is  the  weight  thereof,  at 
the  lowest  point  of  fall — This  is  the  weight  of  the  wa 
ter  at  the  smallest  part  of  the  cataract,  or  that  on  the 
United  States'  side.  The  other  part  of  the  Falls,  as  has 
been  noted,  is  at  least  six  times  as  large  ;  that  is,  six 
times  the  quantity  of  water  flows  over.  Now  if  we 
multiply  the  above  sum,  21.427,200  by  six,  we  shall 
have  the  enormous  sum  of  128,563,200  Ibs.  of  water, 
which  falls  on  the  bed  of  the  river  below." 

About  two  miles  above  the  Falls,  there  is  a  spring  of 
water,  whose  vapour  is  highly  inflammable,  and  is  emit 
ted,  for  a  time,  with  a  considerable  degree  of  force.  If 
gathered  into  a  narrow  compass,  it  will  support  combus 
tion  for  twenty  minutes,  and  is  capable  of  communicat 
ing  to  water,  placed  in  a  confined  vessel  and  held  over 
it,  the  degrees  of  boiling  temperature. 

There  is  also,  at  some  distance  below  the  Falls,  a 
large  hole,  called  the  Devil's  Hole  ;  it  is  three  hundred 
yards  in  circumference,  and  three  hundred  feet  deep, 
with  trees  and  craggy  rocks  sticking  to  the  inner  sur 
face.  There  is  supposed  to  be  a  considerable  depth 
of  water  at  the  bottom. 

What  is  called  the  Mountain  Lake,  may  also  be  termed 
one  of  the  curiosities  of  this  portion  of  country  ;  it  is 
situated  in  Prince  Edward  County,  on  the  shore,  about 
thirty  miles  from  Kingston,  on  the  top  of  a  mountain 
of  about  two  hundred  feet  in  height — it  is  three  miles 
round,  and,  what  is  a  curious  circumstance,  is  well 
stocked  with  fish,  although  being  in  no  manner  con 
nected  with  the  bay  or  lake,  except  by  a  small  stream 
that  flows  from  it  into  the  bay,  by  a  perpendicular  de 
scent. 

There  are  also  many  other  curiosities,  which  the  lim- 


its  of  this  work  will  not  allow  of  being  noticed.  Among 
these  may  be  counted  the  Whirlpool,  about  three  miles 
below  the  Falls,  and  four  above  Queenston ;  as  also 
the  many  falls  in  Twenty  Mile  Creek,  which,  like  the 
Niagara,  flows  over  the  same  mountain.  One  of  these 
falls  has  a  perpendicular  descent  of  seventy-seven  feet, 
and  the  water,  after  running  for  some  time  with  great 
violence,  falls  over  again,  presenting  to  the  admirer  of 
nature  a  most  imposing  spectacle. 


DESCRIPTION 

OF 

LOWER    CANADA. 

THIS  province  lies  on  both  sides  of  the  river  St. 
Lawrence,  between  forty-five  and  fifty-two  degrees  of 
north  latitude,  and  sixty-one  and  eighty  degrees  west 
longitude,  from  Greenwich.  It  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  New-Britain,  on  the  east  by  the  gulf  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  on  the  south  east  by  New-Brunswick, 
the  district  of  Maine,  and  New  Hampshire  :  south  by 
Vermont,  and  seventy-five  miles  of  the  state  of  New- 
York,  viz  :  from  lake  Champlain  to  the  St.  Regis  river, 
where  it  empties  into  the  St.  Lawrence  ;  and  on  the 
west  by  Upper  Canada. 

Upon  the  north  line  it  extends  to  a  distance  of  six 
hundred  and  eighty-five  miles  ;  its  extent  on  the  south 
line  is  nearly  nine  hundred  miles,  and  measures  in 
the  middle  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  run 
ning  narrower  to  each  end,  more  especially  to  the 
north-eastern  one.  The  dividing  line  between  this 


93 

and  the  upper  province,  takes  its  commencement  from 
the  north  side  of  lake  St.  Francis;  it  then  pursues 
nearly  a  north  course,  running  nearly  twenty  miles 
to  the  Ottawas  river,  which  comes  from  the  north-west, 
and  falls  into  the  St.  Lawrence  at  Montreal,  it  then 
ascends  that  river  to  longitude  eighty  west,  thence  it 
takes  a  due  north  course  to  Charlton  Island,  about  the 
middle  of  the  south  end  of  James'  Bay,  where  it  inter 
sects  the  north  line  in  north  latitude  fifty-two,  and  west 
longitude  eighty. 

The  climate  of  this  province  is  any  thing  but  pleas 
ant,  during  the  winter,  which  lasts  six  months,  com 
mencing  in  November  and  finishing  in  the  latter  end 
of  April,  there  are  continual  falls  of  snow,  which  lie 
generally  to  the  depth  of  from  four  to  five  feet.  The 
mercury  in  the  thermometer,  in  this  province,  has  been 
known  to  freeze,  and  in  summer  time  it  sometimes  rises 
to  ninety-six  degrees;  when,  however  the  winter  breaks 
up,  the  growth  of  vegetation  is  really  surprising.  Yet 
notwithstanding  the  intense  heat  of  summer,  and  the 
rigor  of  winter,  the  inhabitants  enjoy  excellent  health, 
and  are  vigorous  and  robust,  carrying  a  strength,  quite 
unusual  to  more  southern  climates,  even  to  a  very  ad 
vanced  age. 

The  ice  on  the  rivers  and  lakes  of  Lower  Canada 
generally  acquires  a  thickness  of  two  feet,  and  is  ca 
pable  of  sustaining  almost  any  weight — that  on  the 
borders  of  the  St.  Lawrence  sometimes  exceeds  six 
feet. 

As  regards  variety  of  soil  the  province  of  Lower  Ca 
nada  can  vie  with  almost  any  other;  the  traveller  may 
be  for  many  days  delighted  with  the  prospect  of  the 
most  luxurious  vegetation,  and  landscapes,  improv 
ed  by  art  and  industry,  and  in  a  transition  which  he 
feels  to  be  almost  sudden,  finds  himself  surrounded  on 


94 

all  sides  by  barrenness  and  desolation,  without  one  sol 
itary  object  upon  which  the  eye  may  rest  with  pleasure. 
On  all  the  low  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  soil  is 
good,  as  it  is  on  the  low  grounds  of  other  large  rivers. 
Some  of  the  vallies  not  situate  on  rivers  afford  excel 
lent  land  ;  it  is  generally  of  a  black  mould,  mixed  with 
a  small  portion  of  sand.  On  the  higher  grounds  the 
soil  is  of  a  more  sandy  nature  and  is  mixed  slightly 
with  blue  clay.  On  the  high  hills  and  mountains,  it  is 
clay  and  gravel — lime-stone  is  found  in  great  plenty,  in 
many  places  of  this  province,  and  answers  an  excellent 
purpose. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  province  there  are  many 
very  large  and  shallow  ponds  of  water,  abounding  with 
animals  of  the  fur  kind,  which  in  summer  time  become 
partly  dried  up,  creating  an  unwholesome  effluvia;  these 
if  they  were  drained  would  make  excellent  meadow 
land,  and  many  of  them  might  be  thus  converted  into 
good  land  at  a  very  trifling  expense. 

There  are  two  sorts  of  pine  in  this  province,  the 
white  and  the  red,  which  are  excellent  for  the  East  In 
dies ;  four  sorts  of  firs,  two  sorts  of  cedar  and  oak,  the 
white  and  the  red;  the  male  and  female  maple;  three 
sorts  of  ash  trees,  the  free,  the  mongrel  and  the  bastard  ; 
three  sorts  of  walnut  trees,  the  hard,  the  soft,  and  the 
smooth;  vast  numbers  of  beech  trees  and  white  wood, 
white  and  red  elms  and  poplars.  The  Indians  hollow 
the  red  elms  into  canoes,  some  of  which,  made  out  of 
one  piece,  will  contain  twenty  persons  ;  others  are  made 
of  the  bark,  the  different  pieces  of  which  they  sew  to 
gether,  with  the  inner  rind,  and  daub  over  the  seams 
with  pitch,  or  rather  bituminous  substance  resembling 
pitch,  to  prevent  their  leaking.  The  ribs  of  these  ca 
noes  are  made  of  boughs  of  trees.  In  the  hollow  elms, 
the  bears  and  wild  cats  take  up  their  residence  from 
November  to  April. 


95 

In  every  part  of  the  province  there  are  plenty  of  ever 
greens,  such  as  hemlock,  cedar,  firs,  holly  and  laurel, 
with  others.  Many  of  these  evergreens  are  loaded  with 
an  abundance  of  moss,  which  has  a  romantic  appear 
ance,  and  affords  fine  shelter  for  wild  beasts  and  fowl, 
in  the  winter  season.  Here  may  be  found  large  spots 
of  ground  under  natural  roofs,  covered  with  dry  leaves, 
while  the  snow  is  five  feet  deep  on  the  surrounding 
parts,  a  circumstance  extremely  beneficial  to  the  In 
dians,  and  the  animals  of  this  cold  region.  To  these 
places  the  Indians  resort  for  hunting  purposes,  and  here 
screened  from  the  wind  they  lie  down  upon  the  dry 
leaves  beside  their  fire  and  feel  as  comfortable  as  the 
rich  farmer  or  merchant  in  his  warm  house.  One  who 
has  never  been  at  these  places  can  form  no  correct  idea 
of  the  great  difference  of  the  weather  in  these  solitary 
retreats. 

There  is  also  a  great  variety  of  wild  fruit,  particular 
ly  the  crab-apple,  potatoe,  onion  and  cranberry. 

Near  Quebec  there  has  been  found  an  excellent 
lead  mine,  and  many  valuable  ones  of  iron,  have  also 
been  discovered  at  different  places.  Some  silver,  it  is 
said,  has  also  been  found  in  the  mountains.  There 
have  also  been  found  some  coal  mines,  the  coal  from 
which  burns  well,  and  some  of  alum,  copperas  and 
clays,  that  paint  quite  well. 

Fifty  miles  from  Quebec  on  the  banks  of  the  "  Trots 
Rivieres,"  there  is  an  excellent  mine  of  iron  ore,  it  lies 
horizontal,  situate  near  the  surface,  and  is  composed 
of  masses  easily  detached  from  each  other,  perforated, 
and  the  holes  filled  with  ochre.  It  possesses  softness 
and  pliability,  and  for  promoting  its  fusion  a  grey  lime 
stone,  found  in  its  vicinity  is  used.  The  hammered 
iron  is  soft  and  tenacious,  and  has  the  quality  of  not  be 
ing  subject  to  rust. 


96 

The  lakes  of  Lower  Canada  are  numerous,  though 
not  large;  a  considerable  number  of  which  have  no 
names;  the  lirst,  however,  of  any  note,  is  that  of  Black 
river,  from  which  the  river  has  its  source  ;  it  lies  in  north 
latitude  fifty-one,  and  west  longitude  sixty-six,  forty- 
eight,  is  of  considerable  depth,  and  about  one  hundred 
miles  in  circumference. 

Middle  Lake  lies  about  one  hundred  miles  to  the 
west  of  the  former,  is  small,  and  is  the  source  of  Bus 
tard  river,  which  empties  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
passes  through  several  lakes ;  also,  a  vast  number  of 
lakes  are  to  be  found  in  every  direction  from  the  lake. 

Lake  St.  John  is  situate  about  one  hundred  miles 
north  of  Quebec,  and  is  about  ninety  miles  in  circum 
ference.  This  lake  is  the  source  of  the  river  Saquenay. 
Another  considerable  lake  is  also  found,  one  hundred 
miles  to  the  north-west,  near  the  great  chain  of  moun 
tains:  it  is  the  source  of  Picksuagus  river. 

Abbitib  Lake  is  situate  in  latitude  forty-nine,  and 
longitude  seventy-nine,  and  is  the  source  of  a  large  riv 
er  of  the  same  name,  which  runs  into  the  south  end  of 
James'  Bay.  It  is  one  hundred  and  ninety  miles  in 
circumference,  tolerably  shallow,  and  abounds  with 
small  islands.  In  the  vicinity  of  this  lake  are  several 
more  of  less  note. 

Lake  Mistissiney  is  situated  north  of  Quebec  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  is  about  three  hun 
dred  miles  in  circuit,  though  a  number  of  points  of  land 
extend  into  it  a  good  distance  from  every  direction.  It 
is  the  source  of  Rupert's  River,  which  passes  through 
some  small  lakes,  on  its  way  to  James'  Bay,  a  north 
east  course. 

Lake  St.  Charles  is  situate  north  of  Quebec,  and  re 
ceives  and  discharges  the  river  St.  Charles  ;  it  is  about 
five  miles  long. 


97 

Lake  Megantic,  lies  south  of  Quebec,  about  ninety 
miles,  and  is  the  source  of  the  river  Chaudiere. 

Lake  Calvier  is  small,  and  is  situated  a  few  miles 
above  Quebec. 

Lake  St.  Peter"  is  formed  by  the  expansion  of  the 
St.  Laurence,  to  the  breadth  of  twenty  miles.  It  is 
one  hundred  and  twelve  miles  from  Quebec. 

The  lake  of  the  Two  Mountains,  and  the  lake  of  St. 
Louis,  are  in  the  vicinity  of  Montreal ;  the  latter  is 
formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Ottawas,  with  the  St. 
Laurence.  The  lake  of  the  Two  Mountains  is  an  ex 
pansion  of  the  Ottawas,  ten  miles  above  its  mouth, 
and  is  twenty  miles  long,  and  three  broad. 

The  rivers  of  Lower  Canada  are  very  numerous, 
and  chiefly  run  into  the  St.  Laurence  ;  the  most  of 
them  come  from  the  north,  and  afford  many  romantic 
falls. 

In  sailing  up  the  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  the  first  riv 
er  of  note  which  is  seen,  is  the  Moisic  river ;  about 
forty  miles  further  up,  we  come  to  Machigabiou  river  : 
and  in  forty  more,  we  come  to  Black  river,  already  no 
ted  ;  this  river  is  three  hundred  miles  long,  and  quite 
large,  and  falls  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  some  distance 
above  the  gulf. 

The  next  in  course  is  Bustard  river,  about  ten  miles 
further  up.  This  is  one  of  the  longest  rivers  of  Low 
er  Canada.  It  falls  into  the  St.  Laurence  in  lat.  48.50, 
north,  after  running  a  course  of  at  least  four  hundred 
miles. 

Betsaimites  river,  appears  next  in  sailing  up  the  St. 
Laurence.  It  is  large,  of  considerable  length,  and 
passes  through  several  lakes. 

Portnus,  is  a  river  of  some  length,  coming  from  two 
small  lakes.  It  empties  into  the  St.  Laurence,  fifty 
miles  above. 


98 

Pepe  Chaisinagau  river,  succeeds  in  course,  and  falls 
into  the  St.  Laurence,  twenty  miles  above  Portnus. 

In  sailing  up  the  St.  Laurence,  several  small  streams 
are  seen;  at  length  we  come  to  St.  James  river  ;  and  a 
little  distance  above,  we  come  to  the  river  Sagtienay, 
which  rises  out  of  lake  St.  John,  already  noted  ;  which 
lake  is  the  repository  of  four  considerable  rivers,  with 
their  numerous  branches,  viz  :  those  of  the  Picksuaga- 
nis,  Chissouematon,  Sable,  and  Pcriboaca.  In  its  course, 
the  Saguenay  receives  the  Missiguinipi,  and  several 
more  of  considerable  size,  after  which,  it  falls  into  the 
St.  Laurence,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  below  Que 
bec,  from  nearly  a  west  direction.  This  river  is  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  length,  from  the  lake ;  and 
sweeps  along  a  prodigious  quantity  of  water.  It  is  in 
terrupted  in  its  course,  by  abrupt  precipices,  over  which 
it  dashes  its  foaming  current ;  and  being  bounded  by 
banks  of  great  elevation,  is  remarkable  for  the  depth 
and  impetuosity  of  its  flood,  which  is  sensibly  felt  in 
the  St.  Laurence,  whose  water  is  obliged  to  yield  to 
its  impulse  for  a  distance  of  several  miles.  Large  ves 
sels,  apparently  going  their  course,  have  thereby  been 
carried  side-long  in  a  different  direction. 

This  river,  is  generally,  three  miles  wide,  except  at 
its  mouth,  where  it  is  only  one ;  at  which  place,  five 
hundred  fathoms  of  line  have  been  let  down,  without 
finding  any  bottom.  Two  miles  up,  it  is  one  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  fathoms,  and  at  sixty  miles,  it  is  sixty 
fathoms  deep. 

Albany  river  succeeds  next  in  course,  which  rises  in 
a  small  lake,  about  sixty  miles  north  from  the  St.  Lau 
rence,  and  flows  through  the  fertile  valley  of  Mai-bay. 
This  river  abounds  with  salmon  and  other  excellent 
fish. 


99 

Montmorenci  is  the  next  considerable  river,  and  falls 
into  the  St.  Laurence,  eight  miles  below  Quebec,  over 
a  precipice  of  two  hundred  and  forty-six  feet. 

St.  Charles,  falls  into  the  same  close  by  Quebec,  and 
is  of  considerable  size. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  gulf  and  river  St.  Lau 
rence,  there  are  a  number  of  streams,  which  fall  into  it, 
and  take  their  rise  in  New  Brunswick,  New  Hampshire 
and  Vermont. 

The  largest  is  the  Chandiere  river,  rising  out  of  lake 
M^gantic,  and  flowing  a  north  course,  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles,  falls  into  the  St.  Laurence  about  eight 
miles  above  Quebec.  Ships  sail  some  distance  up  this 
river. 

The  river  St.  Nicholas,  falls  in  on  the  same  side  of 
the  St.  Laurence,  but  a  little  higher  up.  Jacques  Car- 
tier,  a  river  of  considerable  size,  falls  into  the  St.  Lau 
rence,  about  thirty  miles  above  Quebec.  The  stream 
of  this,  like  all  the  rivers  in  Lower  Canada,  is  fre 
quently  broken  into  cascades,  affording  picturesque 
scenery. 

The  St.  Ann,  and  Dog  rivers,  are  streams  of  some 
note,  and  fall  into  the  St.  Laurence,  from  the  north. 

Batiscan  river,  also  flows  from  the  north,  into  the  St. 
Laurence.  Three  Rivers,  otherwise,  called  St.  Maur 
ice,  falls  into  the  St.  Laurence,  from  the  north,  fifty 
miles  above  Quebec,  by  three  mouths.  It  is  three 
hundred  miles  long,  and  much  navigated  by  the  Indians, 
from  the  vicinity  of  Hudson  bay.  The  tide  of  the 
St.  Laurence  flows  no  higher  than  the  mouth  of  this 
river. 

St.  Reges  river,  rises  in  the  state  of  New-York,  and 
falls  into  the  upper  end  of  lake  St.  Francis,  in  lat.  45 
degrees.  This  is  the  last  river  of  Lower  Canada,  which 
runs  into  the  St.  Laurence,  from  the  south. 


IOO 

Ottawas  river,  is  one  of  the  largest  in  Upper  Cana 
da,  except  the  St.  Laurence,  into  which  it  falls  below, 
and  above  Montreal,  as  has  been  noted.  It  is  at  least, 
one  thousand  miles  long  ;  one  of  its  branches,  the 
Petite  Riviere,  rises  out  of  lake  Tomis-Cauting,  and 
after  meeting  together  four  hundred  miles  from  Mon 
treal,  receives  a  number  of  tributary  streams  on  its 
way,  and  pitches  over  a  number  of  precipices. 

All  the  rivers  as  yet  described,  run  into  the  St.  Lau 
rence  from  fhe  south  or  north;  there  are  several  which 
run  into  James'  bay,  after  running  a  western  or  north 
eastern  course — viz. 

Slude  river  and  Rupert's  river,  which  has  a  course  of 
nearly  two  hundred  miles  ;  and  Harraconaw  river,  which 
empties  into  the  south  end  of  James'  bay,  and  is  a 
beautiful  river. 

The  river  St.  Lawrence  is  one  of  the  greatest,  and 
most  beautiful  rivers ;  from  its  mouth  to  Montreal,  the 
head  of  ship  navigation,  it  is  five  hundred  and  forty-five 
miles :  for  one  thousand  more  it  is  passed  by  very  large 
boats,  from  here,  for  two  hundred  and  forty  miles, 
through  lake  Ontario,  the  largest  vessels  in  the  world 
may  sail. 

The  harbors  in  Lower  Canada  are  numerous,  chief 
ly  situate  in  the  St.  Laurence ;  there  are  a  few  on  lake 
Champlain,  and  two  or  three  on  the  north-west  coast 
of  James'  Bay. 

Fish,  of  which  there  is  a  great  variety,  is  very  plenty. 

There  are  but  two  cities  in  Lower  Canada,  Quebec 
and  Montreal,  (a  description  of  these  may  be  found  in 
the  memoirs.) 

Considering  the  great  extent  of  Lower  Canada,  its 
villages  are  few  in  number,  and  small  in  size,  chiefly 
lying  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Laurence. 


101 

The  first  of  any  note  above  Quebec,  for  there  are 
none  below,  is  Jeunne  Lorette ;  it  lies  nine  miles  north 
west  of  Quebec,  and  contains  fifty  log  houses,  inhabit 
ed  by  French  and  some  Indians ;  there  is  a  decent 
chapel  in  this  village. 

The  village  of  Trois  Rivieres,  is  situate  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  St.  Laurence,  extends  three  fourths  of  a 
mile  long,  and  contains  seventy  houses  and  a  church. 

Charlebour^  is  situate  eighty  miles  east  of  Lorette, 
and  is  something  larger. 

The  village  of  William  Henry  or  Sorel  is  agreeably 
situate  at  the  confluence  of  the  Sorel  or  Chambly  riv 
er  with  the  St.  Laurence,  and  contains  a  Protestant 
and  Roman  Catholic  house  for  divine  worship. 

Some  distance  above  Sorel,  is  is  situate  Vercheres  ;  it 
contains  about  forty  houses. 

Sault  Saint  Louis,  is  a  small  village  of  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  houses,  inhabited  chiefly  by  the  Iro- 
quois  or  Mohawk  Indians.  It  is  about  sixteen  miles 
above  Montreal,  and  was  originally  built  for  those  In 
dians,  who  have  long  been  converted  to  the  Christian  re 
ligion.  It  is  chiefly  built  of  stone.  The  church  and 
dwelling  of  the  missionaries  are  protected  by  a  stone 
wall,  in  which  there  are  loop  holes  for  musquetry. 

Point  aux  Trembles  village  is  fifty-one  miles  from 
Quebec,  contains  one  hundred  and  twenty  houses,  a 
small  convent  of  nuns,  and  a  neat  church. 

The  village  of  the  Cedars  is  charmingly  situated  on 
the  St.  Laurence,  not  far  above  Montreal  ;  it  contains 
about  fifty  houses. 

The  Canasadago  village  of  the  Iroquois,  a  Mohawk, 
and  Algonquin  tribes  of  Indians,  is  situate  on  a  de 
lightful  point  of  land  on  the  hills,  on  the  east  side  of 
the  two  mountains,  in  the  Ottowas  river.  Near  the 
extremity  of  the  Point,  their  church  is  built,  which  di- 


102 

vides  the  village  into  two  parts,  forming  a  regular  an 
gle  along  the  water  side.  It  contains  about  two  hun 
dred  houses,  and-two  thousand  five  hundred  souls. 

The  province  of  Lower  Canada  is  divided  into  three 
districts  and  twenty-one  counties,  viz  :  Gaspe,  Corn- 
wallis,  Devon,  Hertford,  Dorchester,  Buckinghamshire, 
Richlieu,  Bedford,  Surrey,  Kent,  Huntington,  York, 
Montreal,  Effingham,  Leinster,  Warwick,  St.  Maurice, 
Hampshire,  Quebec,  Northumberland  and  Orleans. 
These  counties  are  subdivided  into  parishes. 

The  only  natural  curiosities  worth  naming  in  Lower 
Canada,  are  those  cascades  and  water-falls  with  which 
the  province  abounds. 

The  Bird  Isles,  which  are  situate  in  the  gulf  of  St. 
Laurence,  consist  of  two  rocks  elevated  above  the  wa 
ter,  upwards  of  one  hundred  feet,  their  flattened  sum 
mits,  whose  circumference  docs  not  exceed  three 
hundred  yards,  exhibit  a  resplendent  whiteness,  produ 
ced  by  the  quantities  of  ordure  with  which  they  are 
covered,  from  immense  flocks  of  birds,  which,  in  sum 
mer,  take  possession  of  the  apertures  in  their  perpen 
dicular  cliffs,  where  they  form  their  nests,  and  produce 
their  young.  When  alarmed,  they  hover  above  the 
rocks,  and  overshadow  their  tops  by  their  numbers. 
The  abundance  of  their  eggs  affords  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  neighboring  coast,  a  material  supply  of  food. 

Ninety  miles  up  the  Saguenay  river,  already  noted, 
there  is  a  fall  of  water,  that  deserves  notice,  chiefly  on 
account  of  the  immense  sheet  of  water,  which  is  per- 
perpetually  broken  in  its  rugged  course,  and  assumes  a 
resplendent  whiteness. 

When  viewed  from  below  the  scene  is  stupendous  and 
terrific.  The  incessant  and  deafening  roar  of  the  waters 
and  the  violence  with  which  they  hasten  to  their  des 
cent,  tend  to  produce  on  the  mind  of  the  spectator  an 


103 

impression  awfully  grand.  The  picturesque  and  rude 
ly  wild  forms  of  the  lofty  banks,  exhibit  a  gloomy  con 
trast  to  the  lively  splendors  of  the  cataract. 

Three  hundred  and  thirty  miles  from  the  mouth  of 
the  St.  Laurence  is  situate  Cape  Tourment,  whose  per 
pendicular  altitude  is  two  thousand  feet.  It  exhibits  a 
grand  and  sublime  view,  especially  to  those  sailing  up 
the  river. 

The  cataract  of  the  river  Montmorencie,  which 
empties  into  the  St.  Laurence,  eight  miles  below 
Quebec,  may  be  reckoned  among  the  natural  curiosi 
ties  of  this  country.  The  following  description  is  in 
the  words  of  Mr.  Herriott : 

"After  exhibiting  a  grateful  variety  throughout  its 
course,  the  Montmorenci  is  precipitated  in  an  almost 
perpendicular  direction,  over  a  rock  of  the  height  of 
two  hundred  and  forty-six  feet ;  falling,  when  it  touches 
the  rock,  in  white  clouds  of  rolling  foam;  and  under 
neath,  where  it  is  propelled  with  uninterrupted  gravita 
tion,  in  numerous  flakes,  like  wool  or  cotton,  which  are 
gradually  protracted  in  their  descent,  until  they  are  re 
ceived  in  the  boiling  profound  abyss  below." 

"  Viewed  from  the  summit  of  the  cliff,  from  whence 
they  are  thrown,  the  waters,  with  every  concommitant 
circumstance,  produce  an  effect  equally  grand,  and 
wonderfully  sublime.  .The  prodigious  depth  of  their 
descent,  the  brightness  and  volubility  of  their  course, 
the  swiftness  of  their  movement  through  the  air,  and 
the  loud  and  hollow  noise  emitted  from  the  basin, 
swelling  with  incessant  agitation,  from  the  weight  of 
the  dashing  waters,  forcibly  combine  to  attract  the  at 
tention,  and  to  impress  with  sentiments  of  grandeur 
and  elevation,  the  mind  of  the  spectator.  The  clouds 
of  vapor  arising  and  assuming  the  prismatic  colors, 
contribute  to  enliven  the  scene.  They  fly  off  from  the 


IO4 

fall,  in  the  form  of  a  revolving  sphere,  emitting  with 
velocity  pointed  flakes  of  spray,  which  spread  in  re 
ceding,  until  intercepted  by  neighboring  banks,  or  dis 
solved  in  the  atmosphere." 

"  The  breadth  of  the  fall  is  one  hundred  feet;  the  ba 
sin  is  bounded  by  steep  cliffs,  composed  of  grey  lime 
slate,  lying  in  inclined  strata,  which  on  the  east  and 
west  sides,  are  sub-divided  into  innumerable  thin  shiv 
ers,  forming  with  the  horizon  an  angle  of  forty-five  de 
grees,  and  containing  between  them  fibrous  gypsum, 
andi  pierre  a  calumet,  a  soft  stone  of  which  the  heads  of 
pipes  are  sometimes  formed,  mouldering  incessantly 
by  exposure  to  the  air,  and  the  action  of  the  weather  ; 
no  surface  for  vegetation  remains  upon  these  substan 
ces." 

Eight  miles  from  Quebec,  the  river  Chaudiere  emp 
ties  into  the  south  side  of  St.  Laurence  ;  and  four  miles 
from  its  mouth,  there  is  a  beautiful  cataract,  which  de 
serves  attention. 

The  month  of  May,  appears  to  be  the  most  advan 
tageous  period,  at  which  to  contemplate  this  interes 
ting  scene,  the  approach  to  which  ought  first  to  be 
made,  from  the  top  of  the  banks  ;  as  in  emerging  from 
the  woods,  it  conducts  at  once  to  the  summit  of  the 
cataract,  where  the  objects  which  instantaneously  be 
come  developed  to  the  eye,  strike  the  mind  with  sur 
prise,  and  produce  a  powerful  impression. 

"The  water  descends  from  a  height  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  feet,  and  being  separated  by  rocks,  forms 
three  separate  cataracts  ;  the  largest  of  which,  is  on  the 
western  side,  and  they  unite  in  the  basin,  beneath  their 
broken  and  agitated  waters.  The  form  of  the  rock 
forces  a  part  of  the  water,  into  an  oblique  direction, 
and  advances  them  beyond  the  line  of  the  precipice. 
The  cavities  worn  in  the  rocks,  produce  a  pleasing  va- 


105 

riety,  and  cause  the  descending  waters  to  revolve  with 
foaming  fury,  to  whose  whiteness  the  gloomy  cliffs  pre 
sent  a  strong  opposition  of  color.  The  vapor  from  each 
division  of  the  falls,  quickly  mounting  through  the  air, 
bestows  an  enlivening  beauty  on  the  landscape. 

The  wild  diversity  displayed  by  the  banks  of  the 
stream,  and  the  foliage  of  the  overhanging  woods,  the 
brilliancy  of  colors  richly  contrasted,  the  rapidity  of 
motion,  the  refulgent  brightness  of  the  cataracts,  the 
deep  and  solemn  sound,  which  they  emit,  and  the  va 
rious  cascades  further  down  the  river,  unite  in  render 
ing  this  such  a  pleasing  exhibition  of  natural  objects 
as  few  scenes  can  surpass." 

"  On  descending  the  side  of  the  river,  the  landscape 
becomes  considerably  altered,  and  the  falls  appear  to 
great  advantage.  Masses  of  rocks  and  elevated  points 
of  land,  covered  with  trees,  together  with  the  smaller 
cascades  on  the  stream,  present  a  rich  assemblage, 
terminated  by  the  falls.  The  scenery,  in  proceeding 
down  the  river,  is  rugged  and  wild. 

"  Viewed  in  the  Winter  season,  the  falls  exhibit  an 
appearance  more  curious  than  pleasing,  being  for  the 
greatest  part  congealed,  and  the  general  form  of  the 
congealed  masses,  is  that  of  a  concretion  of  icicles, 
which  resembles  a  cluster  of  pillars  in  Gothic  architec 
ture  ;  and  may  not  improperly  be  compared  to  the  pipes 
of  an  organ.  The  spray  becomes  likewise  consolida 
ted  into  three  masses,  or  secretions  of  a  cone,  exter 
nally  convex,  but  concave  toward  the  falls.  The  west 
side  being  usually  the  only  place  in  which  the  waters 
flow;  the  aspect  is  infinitely  inferior  to  that,  displayed 
in  Summer ;  and  the  sound  emitted  is  comparatively 
faint.  The  surrounding  objects,  covered  alike  with 
snow,  produce  one  uniform  glare.  The  rocks  and  the 
bed  of  the  river,  disguised  by  unshapely  white  masses 


io6 

produce  a  reflection,  which  gives,  even  to  the  waters  of 
the  cataract,  an  apparent  tinge  of  obscurity." 

In  the  midst  of  the  low  ground,  near  cape  Tourment, 
a  narrow  hill,  about  a  mile  in  length,  and  flatted  on  its 
summit,  rises  to  the  height  of  one  hundred  feet.  Up 
on  the  top  is  erected  a  large  dwelling  house,  and  a 
chapel ;  and  thither  the  ecclesiastics  of  the  seminary  of 
Quebec,  to  whom  the  land  belongs,  retire  in  the  Sum 
mer. 

There  are  many  other  curiosities  in  this  province, 
which  cannot  here  be  described;  those  most  remarkable, 
however,  have  already  been  noted. 

Almost  all  the  inhabitants  of  Lower  Canada,  that 
have  come  to  the  years  of  maturity,  are  professors  of 
religion — the  great  majority  are  of  the  Roman  Catho 
lic  persuasion,  for  whose  worship,  some  years  back, 
there  were  one  hundred  and  thirty  churches,  seven 
convents,  one  hundred  and  ninety  secular  and  regular 
priests,  and  one  bishop.  There  were  also  sixteen  cler 
gymen  of  the  church  of  England,  and  one  bishop, 
besides  some  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Methodists  and 
Quakers ;  all  of  whom  enjoy  freedom  of  conscience,  un 
molested. 

The  Roman  Catholic  clergy  of  the  province  are  dis 
tinguished  for  their  devotion,  benevolence,  and  inoffen 
sive  conduct  and  humanity.  They  are  regular  and 
rigid  in  their  religious  ceremonies. 

In  the  year  1497,  Lower  Canada  was  discovered  by 
John  Cabot,  a  Venetian  in  the  service  of  the  English. 

In  1534,  Jacques  Cartier,  a  Frenchman,  under 
commission  of  Frances  I,  explored  the  gulf  of  St.  Law 
rence,  and  the  next  year  ascended  the  river,  and  win 
tered  at  St.  Croix,  where  he  erected  a  wooden  cross. 

In  1603,  a  patent  for  an  exclusive  trade  was  granted 
to  Sieur  de  Monts,  who  employed  Champlain  to  make 
further  discoveries  in  Canada. 


107 

In  1608,  Champlain  sailed  up  the  St.  Laurence,  as 
far  as  a  strait,  called  by  the  Indians  Quebec,  which  is 
the  mouth  of  Sorrell  river,  where,  on  the  third  of  July, 
he  began  to  build,  and  here  passed  the  following  Win 
ter.  At  this  time,  the  settlement  of  Canada  commen 
ced. 

In  1628,  a  company  of  rich  merchants,  one  hundred 
and  seven  in  number,  was  established  by  patent,  for  an 
exclusive  trade. 

This  company  acquired  a  right  of  soil,  in  1642;  but 
their  charter  was  revoked  in  1663. 

In  1629,  Quebec  was  taken  by  the  English,  under 
Sir  David  Keith  ;  and  surrendered  to  the  French  by 
the  treaty  of  St.  Germain. 

In  1690,  Sir  Win.  Phipps,  with  an  armament  from 
Boston,  made  an  unsuccessful  attack  upon  Quebec. 

On  September  13,  1759,  an  English  army  under  Gen. 
Wolfe,  made  a  successful  attack  upon  Quebec,  which 
surrendered  on  the  iSth. 

In  1760,  the  whole  province  of  Canada  surrendered 
to  Gen.  Amherst,  and  was  confirmed  to  Great-Britain 
by  the  treaty  of  1763,  under  whose  dominions  it  has 
since  continued. 


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